GRAPES  AND   WINE, 


A   VISIT 

THE  PRINCIPAL  VINEi'ARDS     . 
OF 

0p  aiti   ani  jfr  anc  t; 

GIVING 

'  A  MINUTE  ACCOUNT     • 

OF     THE 

DIFFERENT  METHODS  PURSUED 

» 

I  N    T  HE 

CULTIVATION  OF  THE  VINE 


AND     THE 


MANUFACTURE  OF  WINE; 

WITH    A    CATALOGUE    OF    THE    DIFFERENT    VARIETIES    OF   GRAPE  : 
AN    ATTEMPT    TO    CALCULATE    THE    PROFITS    OF    CULTI- 
VATING   THE    VINE  ;     AN    ESTIMATE    OF    THE 
PROFITS    OF    MALAGA  FRUIT,  &C.  AC.     j 


BY  (JAMES  BUSBY/  ESQ. 
(NEW-YORK- 

C.    S:   FRANCIS    &    CO.,   252   BROADWAY. 
BOSTON: 

J.  H.  FRANCIS,  128  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

18487V 


SRLfi 

mi 


me; 
PREFACE 

BY    THE   EDITOR. 


IT  is  singular  that  among  the  many  books 
on  Wines  now  existing,  there  is  scarcely  one 
to  which  a  person  in  search  of  sound  prac- 
tical information  can  profitably  refer.  These 
books  appear  to  have  been  chiefly  written 
by  amateurs  and  theorists,  whose  acquaint- 1 
ance  with  their  subject  had  either  been  en- 
tirely formed  over  their  "  wine  and  wal- 
nuts," or  who,  with  but  slight  reference  to 
facts,  had  taken  their  opinions  on  trust  from 
the  conjectures  of  those  who  had  preceded 
them.  But  the  conjectures  and  speculations 
of  persons  who  have  never  visited  a  wine 
country,  or  who  have  only  hurried  through 
one  in  the  diligence,  are  alike  barren  of  in- 
formation and  entertainment  ;  and  thus  it 
often  happens  that  treatises  upon  Wines  are 


JV  EDITOR  S  PREFACE. 

about  the  driest  of  all  reading.  They  have 
neither  the  grace  of  fiction  nor  the  utility 
of  truth. 

The  little  volume  here  presented  to  the 
Public  we  have  no  hesitation  in  ranking  in 
a  very  different  class.  The  Author,  pos- 
sessing an  intelligent  and  inquiring  mind, 
and  carrying  along  with  him  a  distinct 

.  and  practical  purpose,  pursues  his  way  over 
a  tract  of  the  finest  wine  country  in  Europe, 
and  notes  down  his  observations  and  the  re- 
sult of  his  inquiries,  in  a  plain,  brief,  intelligi- 
ble, and  interesting  manner.  If  wine  coun- 
tries'were  often  visited  in  this  way,  and  only 

facts  judiciously  detailed,  we  should  not  find, 
as  we  do  at  present,  books  on  Wines  to  be 

^for  the  most  part  mere  perpetuations  of 
error ;  but  each  writer,  adding  his  careful 
gleaning  of  facts  to  those  of  his  predecessors, 
nil  the  information  on  this  topic  which  is  of 
public  interest  or  utility  would  speedily  be 
accumulated. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  add,  that  besides 
the  Author's  valuable  and  accurate  remarks 
on  the  cultivation  and  manufacture  of  Wines, 
the  journal  contains  some  useful  oberva- 
tions  on  the  culture  of  the  olive  and  other 
fruits,  and  on  Spanish  and  French  agricul- 


EDITORS  PREFACE. 


ture  generally.  The  work,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  Author's  preface,  was  originally  pub- 
lished in  New  South  Wales,  where  Mr.  Bus- 
by is  now  settled.  The  present  edition  is, 
therefore,  a  reprint,  with  the  view  of  intro- 
ducing the  book  to  a  more  extended  circle  of 
readers. 

LONDON,  June  28,  1834. 


PREFACE. 


THE  writer  of  the  following  pages  had  long  consid- 
ered that  few  things  could  be  of  more  advantage  to 
the  settlers  of  New  South  Wales,  than  a  knowledge 
of  the  agricultural  and  rural  economy  of  those  Euro- 
pean countries  whose  climates  are  most  analogous 
to  theirs. 

He  accordingly  embraced  the  opportunity,  afford- 
ed by  his  late  visit  to  Europe,  to  proceed  to  the  south 
of  Spain,  and  through  various  parts  of  France,  in 
the  hope  that  his  observations  might  be  useful  to  the 
Colonists.  His  attention  was,  in  particular,  directed 
to  the  culture  of  the  vine,  and  the  management  of  its 
products  ;  a  subject  which,  as  most  of  our  readers 
are  aware,  was  not  altogether  new  to  him. 

The  degree  of  spirit  with  which  the  plantation  of 
vineyards  had  commenced  in  the  colony,  previous  to 
the  writer's  departure,  in  February,  1831,  left  in  his 
mind  no  doubt  of  ultimate  success.  He  himself  had 
been  the  medium  of  distributing  upwards  of  20,000 
vine  cuttings  among  upwards  of  fifty  individuals,  du- 
ring the  previous  season,  and  many  others  were  dis- 
appointed in  their  wishes  to  obtain  a  supply.  The 
very  fair  quality  of  the  wine  made  by  Mr.  Sadleir,  at 
the  Orphan  School,  near  Liverpool,  during  two  suc- 
cessive seasons,  had  also  proved,  beyond  a  doubt,  that 
the  colony  was  capable  of  yielding  a  very  superior 
produce,  from  vines  of  a  greater  age,  and  on  a  more 


V1H  PREFACE. 

suitable  soil,  than  that  on  which  the  vineyard  at  the 
Orphan  School  is  planted.* 

The  writer  was,  however,  aware  that  most  of  the  in- 
formation which  the  colony  possessed,  upon  this  subject, 
was  derived  from  the  practice  of  a  much  colder  cli- 
mate ;  and,  though  firmly  persuaded  that,  in  spite  of 
any  obstacles  which  might  arise,  the  cultivation  of 
vineyards  would  be  eventually  established  as  an  im- 
portant branch  of  the  agriculture  of  the  colony,  yet 
he  conceived  that  a  knowledge  of  the  practice  pur- 
sued in  more  analogous  climates,  might  do  much  to 
hasten  this  period,  by  the  greater  confidence  it  would 
inspire,  and  by  the  caution  it  would  afford  against 

*  The  writer  having  been  favoured  with  ten  gallons  of 
this  wine,  of  the  vintage  1829-30,  ho  took  one  half  of  it  to 
England  in  a  small  cask,  and  the  other  half  in  bottles.  On 
his  arrival  in  London,  he  had  the  whole  put  into  pint  bottles, 
and  distributed  among  persons  interested  in  the  colony.  Some 
of  that  which  was  taken  home  in  bottles  had  spoiled,  owing, 
as  he  is  inclined  to  believe,  to  the  bottles  not  having  been  pre- 
viously washed  with  sufficient  care.  The  whole  of  what  was 
contained  in  the  cask,  although  it  had  never  been  racked  off 
or  clarified,  was  perfectly  sound  :  and  was  pronounced,  by 
every  person  who  tasted  it,  including  a  very  eminent  Opor- 
to wine  merchant,  and  a  very  respectable  Bordeaux  wine 
merchant,  to  be  a  very  promising  wine.  The  latter  told 
the  writer  that  he  had  opened  one  of  the  bottles  given  him, 
when  he  had  a  party  to  dinner.  Among  the  company  were 
two  of  his  own  countrymen.  "You  know,"  he  observed,  "that 
my  countrymen  always  drink  very  light  wine  ;  they  there- 
fore found  it  strong,  and  thought  it  resembled  port  without 
brandy.  I  said  I  found  it  more  like  Burgundy,  and  they 
agreed  with  me  that  it  was  so."  The  Oporto  wine  mer- 
chant observed,  that  the  wine  was  sound,  but  that  it  would 
very  soon  turn  sour  if  not  fortified  by  brandy.  The  writer 
has  this  day  (25th  October,  1832)  opened  a  bottle  which  he 
brought  J>ack  with  him  to  Sydney,  and  has  found  it  perfectly 
sound  ;  'and,  in  his  opinion,  a  well-flavoured  and  strong- 
bodied  wine.  ' 


PREFACE.  IX 

errors  that  might  otherwise  require  a  lengthened  and 
expensive  experience  to  correct. 

There  was,  however,  one  important  product  of  the 
vine,  upon  which  the  colony  possessed  little  or  no  in- 
formation ;  and  upon  which,  although  it  formed  the 
principal  object  of  his  expedition,  the  writer  is  happy 
to  say,  that  there  is  little  knowledge  to  be  communi- 
cated, beyond  that  of  its  extreme  simplicity  and  its 
great  importance.  The  product  to  which  he  alludes 
is  raisins.  The  writer  will  not  anticipate  the  con- 
tents of  his  journal,  farther  than  to  observe,  that  at 
Malaga,  the  chief  seat  of  this  branch  of  industry,  the 
variety  of  vine  which  produces  the  finest  Muscatel 
raisins  will  only  grow  in  a  very  limited  district.  Be- 
yond this  district  they  are  obliged  to  cultivate  grapes 
of  a  very  inferior  kind,  which  it  is  necessary  to  pre- 
serve by  dipping  in  a  lye,  and  which  are  thence  called 
Lexia  raisins.  The  Muscatel  raisins  are  dried  in  the 
sun,  without  undergoing  any  other  process  ;  and 
though  they,  in  fact,  cost  less  trouble  than  the  inferior 
sorts,  the  average  value  of  the  produce  of  an  English 
acre  Is  about  2o/.  ($119.)  An  idea  of  the  profit  of  this 
crop,  to  the  Spanish  farmer,  may  be  formed  from  the 
fact,  that  the  ordinary  value  of  an  acre  of  Lexia 
raisins  does  not  exceed  57.  ($24.) 

Great,  however,  as  the  profits  of  this  cultivation 
must  be  to  the  Spanish  farmer,  they  would  be  more 
than  double  to  the  settler  of  New  South  Wales.  For, 
while  the  duty  on  the  admission  of  Spanish  raisins, 
of  the  first  quality,  into  England,  is  2/.  12s.  6d.,  and 
on  the  inferior  qualities,  I/,  and  1L  2s.  per  cwt,  the 
duty  on  all  sorts,  from  British  colonies,  is  only  1 05. 
per  cwt.* 

By  a  published  account,  it  appears  that  the  duty 
paid  upon  raisins  imported  into  England  during  1827, 
amounted  to  163,513/.  ;*  and  by  a  return  of  the  ex- 
ports from  Malaga  for  1828,  the  earliest  period  for 


*  Companion  of  the  British  Almanac  fpr  1830. 


PREFACE. 


which  the  writer  could  procure  it,  it  appears  that 
83,410  boxes,  containing  18,617  cwt.  of  Muscatel 
raisins,  paying  the  highest  duty,  were  in  that  year 
sent  from  Malaga  alone. 

It  is  believed  by  the  writer,  that  by  far  the  greatest 
proportion  of  raisins,  paying  the  highest  duty,  is  im- 
ported into  England  from  Malaga  ;  and  he  therefore 
thinks,  that  the  whole  quantity  of  raisins,  paying  the 
highest  import  duty  in  England,  may  be  fairly  taken 
at  30,000  cwt.,  and  the  quantity  of  inferior  sorts  will 
accordingly  be  about  80,000  cwt. 

From  these  statements  some  idea  may  be  formed 
of  the  importance  of  such  a  branch  of  agriculture  to 
the  colony,  should  it  be  found  to  succeed.  From 
what  he  has  heard  of  the  soil  and  situation  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Illawara,  the  writer  has  great  hopes  that  the 
Vine  yielding  the  most  valuable  Muscatel  raisins  will 
succeed  there  ;  and  should  this  prove  to  be  the  case, 
it  will  undoubtedly  make  the  fortunes  of  those  who 
first  engage  in  it.  But  it  is  also  worthy  of  a  trial 
elsewhere ;  and  even  should  this  variety  prove  too 
delicate  for  any  part  of  the  Colony,  the  writer  has  no 
doubt  whatever,  that  of  the  numerous  varieties  he 
collected  from  different  parts  of  France  and  Spain, 
several  will  be  found,  which,  though  not  equalling  it 
in  value,  will  still  prove  a  very  desirable  and  even  pro- 
fitable article  of  produce ;  at  least  till  the  consump- 
tion of  the  Colony  itself  is  supplied. 

The  writer  was  well  aware  how  few  of  the  va- 
rieties of  Vines  previously  imported  into  the  Colony 
agreed  with  the  climate,  and  he  therefore  spared  no 
trouble  or  expense  in  obtaining  all  the  varieties  of  the 
different  districts  through  which  he  travelled.  A  very 
considerable  number  of  varieties  were  actually  collect- 
ed by  himself  from  the  different  vineyards  he  visited, 
of  the  qualities  of  each  of  which  he  obtained  a  short 
notice  on  the  spot.  Of  the  other  varieties,  amount- 
ing to  upwards  of  500,  which  he  obtained  from  the 
Botanic  Garden  of  Montpelier,  and  the  Royal  Nur- 
sery of  the  Luxembourg  at  Paris,  it  is  probable  that 


11 

: 


PREFACE.  X 

some  will  prove  different  from  others  in  little  more 
than  the  name,  and  that  some  may  be  of  little  or  no 
value  ;  but  knowing  the  changes  produced  by  change 
of  climate  in  the  vine,  he  thought  it  possible  that  some 
of  those  which  were  reckoned  of  least  value  where 
they  were,  might  yield  the  most  valuable  products 
in  the  Colony,  and  he  therefore  thought  none  of  them 
beneath  his  notice. 

In  conclusion,  the  writer  begs  to  add,  that  through- 
out his  journey,  his  attention  was  almost  exclusively 
directed  to  agricultural  subjects ;  and  that  in  revising 
his  Journal  for  publication,  he  has  omitted  every  part 
of  it  which  did  not  directly  bear  upon  these  subjects. 
His  object  was  to  collect  as  great  a  mass  of  useful  in- 
formation as  possible,  and  he  did  not,  therefore,  cease 
to  register  his  observations,  even  where  they  might 
appear  minute  and  superfluous.  It  is  only  from  an  ex- 
tensive collection  of  facts  that  sound  conclusions  can 
be  deduced.  Those  collected  here  will,  as  the  writer 
hopes,  convince  the  Colonists  of  New  South  Wales, 
that  when  once  they  have  obtained  grapes  suitable  to 
their  climate,  and  have  fixed  upon  a  proper  soil,  it  will 
require  neither  great  study,  nor  toil,  nor  expense,  to 
enable  them  to  make  a  good  wine ;  and  that,  by  a 
little  attention  to  a  few  simple  principles,  they  may 
easily  improve  upon  the  practice  of  most  old  wine 
countries,  where  error  has  become  a  habit,  and  a 
blind  routine  has  been  sanctioned,  or  rather  conse- 
crated, by  prescription. 


TABLES 
OF  SPANISH  WEIGHTS,  MEASURES,  AND  MONEYS. 


4  Arobas .' 1  Quintal. 

1  Quintal 102j  Ibs.  English. 


MEASURES. 

6  Arrobas  Mayores 25  Galls.  English  Old  Mea- 
sure. 
1  Butt  of  Wine  contains'^  .  .  30  Arrobas  Mayores. 

13  Arrobas  Menores 39  Galls.  Eng.  Old  Measure. 

1  Pipe  of  Oil  contains  ....  34  Arobas  Menores. 

25  Arrobas  Mayores 82  Arrobas  Menores. 

5  Fanegas 1  Quarter  English. 

27  Varas  of  Castile 25  Yards  English. 

Aranzada  .  .  - 1  Acre  English. 

"*      fJej&fk         . 

MONin 

A&t*  «  *  **"*•     f  I  *?&    Jf^tf    ' 

Piastre )  fjt  /AA?w&  i 

20  Reals  Vellon VI  HarJ  Collar. 

10|  Reals  Plate S 


In  this  edition,  the  Author's  calculations  in  British  currrency 
have  been  reduced  to  United  States  currency,  at  $4  75 
the  pound  sterling. 


J  O  U  R  N  A  L,  &c. 


Monday,  2Qth  September,  1831. — Having  embarked 
at  London  on  the  6th  of  the  present  month,  I  this  day 
landed  at  Cadiz.  1  had  here  the  good  fortune  to  meet 
with  Dr.  Wilson,  an  English  gentleman,  to  whom  I 
had  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  ;  and  as  he  was 
about  to  return  to  the  house  of  his  brother,  an  exten- 
sive wine  merchant  of  Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  I  accept- 
ed his  invitation  to  accompany  him  to  that  place,  on 
Wednesday  next. 

28th  September. — At  three  o'clock  this  day,  I  ac- 
cordingly joined  Dr.  Wilson  in  hiring  a  passage-boat 
to  cross  the  bay  of  Cadiz,  in  order  to  avoid  the  delay 
of  the  common  ferry-boat.  Port  St.  Mary's,  the  town 
at  which  we  disembarked,  is  chiefly  occupied  by  per- 
sons engaged  in  the  wine  trade,  and  from  this  place 
the  sherry  wines  are  shipped.  It  took  an  hour  and  a 
half  to  cross  the  bay,  and  another  half  hour  to  engage 
a  calesa,  and  forward  our  baggage ;  after  which  we 
proceeded  on  our  journey.  For  four  or  five  miles  out 
of  Port  St.  Mary's,  the  country  consists  of  a  coarse 
barren  sandstone,  partially  covered  with  gravel,  ex- 
cepting on  the  banks  of  the  river,  which  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  great  fertility.  We  stopped  at  a  Ven ta, 
or  public  house,  to  obtain  a  glass  of  the  wine  called 
Manzinilla,  the  vin  du  pays  of  the  district,  which  Dr. 
Wilson  assures  me  is  preferred  to  all  other  wines  by 
people  of  all  ranks  in  the  country ;  it  is  not  known  in 
2 


14  SHERRY  WINES. 

the  cellars  of  the  English  merchants,  but  is  a  light, 
pleasant  beverage,  having  at  the  same  time  a  mellow- 
ness and  flavour,  which  1  have  no  doubt  would,  after 
a  little  habit,  procure  for  it  the  preference  even  of 
those  who  would  find  it  insipid  at  the  first  trial. 

The  twilight  was  far  advanced  as  we  entered 
the  wine  district ;  at  one  place  we  could  distinguish  a 
man  with  a  musket,  who  had  been  posted  to  watch 
the  grapes,  it  being  now  the  middle  of  the  vint- 
age. At  half  past  seven,  we  entered  the  town  of 
Xeres,  which  is  reckoned  one  of  the  richest,  if  not  the 
very  richest  in  Spain,  in  proportion  to  its  population, 
and  which  owes  its  wealth  entirely  to  the  valuable 
wines  produced  in  its  vicinity. 

Friday,  3Qth  September. — A  violent  storm  of  wind 
and  rain  made  it  impossible  to  quit  the  house  yester- 
day, and  though  the  rain  continued  to  fall  at  intervals 
to-day,  I  managed  to  visit,  in  company  with  Dr.  Wil- 
son, the  cellars  of  the  house  of  James  Gordon  and 
Company.  The  extent  of  these  cellars  is  quite  im- 
mense :  the  extreme  length  of  the  largest  being  110 
Spanish  varas,  about  300  English  feet,  and  the  breadth 
222  feet ;  the  roof  is  supported  by  rows  of  massive 
square  columns  of  mason  work ;  and  although  the 
whole  cellar  is  not  of  the  above  length  or  breadth,  the 
principal  division  of  the  building  being  only  200  by 
150  feet,  yet,  with  its  various  adjuncts,  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  the  cellar  is  equal  to  the  dimensions  first  stated. 
Messrs.  Gordon  and  Company  have  also  another  very 
extensive  cellar,  though  not  equal  to  this  in  dimensions. 
Their  ordinary  stock  of  wine  is  said  to  be  4000  butts : 
this  is  kept  in  casks  of  various  sizes,  containing  from 
one  to  four  butts.  These  casks  are  ranged  in  regular 
rows  ;  in  some  parts  of  the  cellar,  to  the  height  of  four 
tiers.  They  are  called  so/crc/a,  and  are  always  re- 
tained in  the  cellars.  They  contain  wines  of  various 
qualities  and  ages — from  one  to  fifty  years.  The 
wine  merchants  of  Xeres  never  exhaust  their  stock 
of  finest  and  oldest  wine.  According  to  the  price  at 
which  the  wine  expedited  to  the  market  is  intended  to 


SHERRY  WINES.  15 

be  sold,  it  contains  a  larger  or  smaller  proportion  of 
old  wine.  But  it  is  only  in  wines  of  a  very  high  price, 
that  even  a  small  portion  of  their  finest  wines  is  mixed. 
What  is  withdrawn  from  the  oldest  and  finest  casks  is 
made  up  from  the  casks  which  approach  them  nearest 
in  age  and  quality,  and  these  are  again  replenished 
from  the  next  in  age  and  quality  to  them.  Thus,  a  cask 
of  wine,  said  to  be  fifty  years  old,  may  contain  a  por- 
tion of  the  vintages  of  thirty  or  forty  seasons. 

The  more  respectable  of  the  wine  merchants  of 
Xeres  never  ship  wine  for  England  till  it  has'  attained 
the  age  of  two  years  ;  that  is,  till  the  bulk  of  the  wine 
has  attained  that  age.  But  according  to  the  price  it 
is  proposed  to  bring,  it  contains  a  larger  or  smaller 
mixture  of  a  more  or  less  expensive  wine.  The  higher 
qualities  of  sherry  are  made  up  of  wine  the  bulk  of 
which  is  from  three  to  five  years  old,  and  this  is  also 
mixed  in  various  proportions  with  older  wines.  Thus, 
from  the  gradual  mixture  of  wines  of  various  ages, 
no  wine  can  be  farther  from  what  may  be  called  a  na- 
tural wine  than  sherry.  But  besides  giving  the 
wines,  as  they  are  prepared  for  the  market,  mellow- 
ness and  richness,  by  the  addition  of  older  wines,  there 
is  a  very  dry  kind  of  sherry  called  Amontillado,  or 
Montillado,  which  abounds  in  the  peculiar  nutty  fla- 
vour that  distinguishes  sherries,  and  which  is  frequent- 
ly added  when  that  is  deficient.  Being  very  light  in 
colour,  it  is  also  used  to  reduce  the  colour  of  sherries, 
which  are  too  high ;  and  when,  on  the  other  hand,  co- 
lour is  required,  the  deficiency  is  made  good  by  the 
mixture  of  boiled  wine,  or  rather,  of  boiled  must. 

The  lowest  priced  sherries  are  in  general  the  growth 
of  port  St.  Mary's  or  San  Lucar,  two  districts  within 
ten  miles  of  Xeres ;  or  they  are  brought  round  from 
Malaga  to  Port  St.  Mary's,  and  thence  transhipped 
for  England  under  the  name  of  sherry,  perhaps  after 
having  been  landed  and  mixed  with  other  wines  to 
give  them  the  qualities  in  which  they  are  deficient. 
All  these  lower  priced  wines  are  largely  mixed  with 
brandy,  being  intended  for  the  consumption  of  a  class 


16  ENVIRONS  OF  XERES. 

of  people  who  are  unable  to  judge  of  any  quality  in 
wine  but  its  strength.  But  brandy  is  added  in  very 
small  proportions  to  the  good  wines ;  never  in  greater 
quantities  than  four  or  five  per  cent,  while  they  re- 
main in  the  cellar,  and  frequently  not  at  all,  unless  the 
wine  should  become  scuddy  or  mothery ;  and  thus  the 
finest  wines  are  frequently  entirely  free  from  it ;  but 
on  their  shipment,  a  small  dose  of  brandy  is  consider- 
ed absolutely  necessary,  even  to  .fine  wines,  to  make 
them  bear  the  voyage,  as  it  is  said ;  but,  in  reality,  be- 
cause strength  is  one  of  the  first  qualities  looked  for  by 
the  consumers.  When  wines  become  mothery  in  the 
London  docks,  they  send  them  back  to  be  cured  ;  and 
this  curing  consists  of  nothing  more  than  an  addition 
of  brandy :  perhaps,  indeed,  it  is  chiefly  effected  by 
the  motion  of  the  voyage.  The  soleras,  or  store  casks, 
in  which  the  wine  is  kept,  are  left  with  ,a  void  of 
1-1 5th  of  their  contents,  and  the  access  of  the  air  is  ad- 
mitted through  a  loose  wooden  bung,  which  merely 
covers  without  closing  the  aperture. 

The  exporters  purchase  the  wine  from  the  growers 
generally  when  it  is  one  year  old.  The  cellars  through- 
out Xeres  are  very  numerous,  and  are  the  most  ex- 
tensive buildings  in  the  town.  The  wine  constitutes 
the  chief  wealth  of  the  inhabitants. 

Saturday,  1st  October. — The  weather  being  more 
settled,  about  mid-day  I  rode  out  in  company  with  Dr. 
Wilson,  taking  the  road  to  Madrid,  in  a  northerly  di- 
rection from  Xeres.  The  road,  immediately  after 
quitting  the  town,  was  execrable,  as  well  as  the  streets 
themselves  ;  but  after  passing  the  limits  of  the  town's 
administration,  and  coming  on  to  the  road  supported 
by  the  government,  it  was  much  better.  The  ground  we 
first  passed  is  a  sandy  loam  on  both  sides,  and  near  the 
town  it  was  cultivated  with  great  care  for  vegetables, 
every  farm  having  its  noria,  or  water  wheel,  to  irri- 
gate the  grounds.  We  saw  them  planting  gai'lic  in 
small  square  divisions.  The  plants  were  placed  on  a 
bank  which  formed  the  square,  about  three  inches 
above  the  surface.  The  squares  were  separated  by 


OLIVES.  17 

channels  for  conveying  the  water,  an  interval  being 
left  at  one  of  the  corners  of  each  square  to  admit  the 
water  to  the  interior,  which  was  five  or  six  feet  in  dia- 
meter. Some  of  the  squares  had  also  rows  of  plants 
on  similar  situations  within  them.  In  this,  or  a  simi- 
lar manner,  all  their  vegetables  are  irrigated  ;  and  no 
one  would  think  of  laying  out  a  garden  unless  on  a 
spot  where  it  could  be  continually  irrigated.  About 
a  mile  from  the  town  we  struck  off  into  a  plantation  of 
olives  ;  few  of  the  trees,  however,  contained  any  con- 
siderable quantity,  and  some  were  altogether  without 
fruit.  Such  olives  as  we  pulled  were  universally  rot- 
ten. I  was  afterwards  told,  by  Mr.  Gordon,  that  all 
olives  are  rotten  this  year,  and  that  this  is  invariably 
the  case  every  second  year.  A  little  further,  we  saw 
a  new  plantation  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  and 
luckily  found  a  peasant  under  a  miserable  shed  of 
leaves  and  straw.  To  our  questions  repecting  the 
olives,  he  informed  us  that  the  plants  bear  a  little  fruit 
even  the  first  year;  but  in  the  second  and  third  years 
they  bear  a  considerable  crop,  in  proportion  to  their 
size.  Some  of  what  we  saw  had  been  eighteen  months 
planted,  some  only  six  months.  The  former  appeared 
healthy  young  trees,  covered  with  a  considerable 
quantity  of  foliage ;  the  latter  had  only  a  few  slender 
shoots,  and  some  of  them  indeed  stood  in  .their  origi- 
nal nakedness.  These  olive  plants  were  nothing  else 
than  large  limbs  of  old  trees,  from  eight  to  ten  leet  in 
length,  and  from  two  to  three  inches  in  diameter. 
They  are  sunk  about  four  or  five  fe£t  into  the  ground  : 
and  the  part  of  the  plant  above  ground  is  covered, 
during  the  first  summer,  with  a  cone  of  earth  or  elf  y. 
to  the  height  of  from  two  to  three  feet.  After  leaving  this 
young  plantation,  we  struck  off  to  the  left,  and  made  for 
the  nearest  vineyard  across  the  fields.  Inconsequence 
of  the  very  heavy  rains  during  the  two  preceding  clays, 
most  of  the  vineyards  were  deserted  ;  the  people  in  . 
this  part  of  the  country  almost  universally  living  in 
the  towns.  We  found  no  person  in  the  cellar  of  the 
first  vineyard  we  entered  :  but  in  the  next  there  were 
2* 


18  ENVIRONS  OP  XERES. 

two  idle  peasants  lounging  about  the  door  of  the  cel- 
lar. Giving  our  horses  to  the  younger,  we  entered 
into  conversation  with  the  elder  vinador.  The  ex- 
tent of  the  vineyard,  he  said,  was  40  aranzadas,  about 
38|-  English  acres.  He  said  they  usually  made  from 
66  to  68  butts  of  wine  ;  but  this  year  they  had  only 
made  55,  when  the  rains  commenced,  and  he  doubted 
now  whether  they  could  make  any  more.  Sixty-seven 
butts  from  38^  acres,  is  equal  to  223  gallons,  old  mea- 
sure,  per  English  acre.  The  soil  was  of  the  descrip- 
tion  called  Albariza,  which  produces  the  finest  wines. 

The  vinador  stated,  that  in  replanting  a  part  of  the 
$  0^  vineyard,  they  had  dug  it  to  the  depth  of  a  vara,  or 
Spanish  yard — about  33^  English  inches ;  but  on  pro- 
&  ceeding  to  the  spot  where  they  had  been  trenching, 
and  stepping  into  the  trench,  I  found  the  surface  only 
came  to  my  knee.  From  twelve  inches  below  the 
surface  the  soil  was  quite  compact,  but  appeared  to 
differ  from  the  surface  soil  only  in  not  having  been 
exposed  to  the  atmosphere.  According  to  Roxas 
Ckmenti,  a  Spanish  writer  upon  the  vines  of  Andalu- 
sia, the  albariza  soils  contain  generally  about  70  per 
cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime,"the  remainder  of  the  com- 
pound being  chiefly  alumina,  with  a  very  small  por- 
tion of  silica,  and  occasionally  a  little  magnesia ;  but 
in  some  places  it  is  almost  pure  carbonate  of  lime. 
This  soil  absorbs  every  drop  of  moisture  which  falls 
upon  it,  and  never  cracks  or  opens  in  the  greatest  heats 
of  summer.  I  paced  over  the  piece  of  ground  which 
had  been  trenched,  and  found  it  45  by  16  paces,  about 
24  perches.  This,  he  said,  had  occupied  ten  men  for 
four  days. 

The  distance  of  the  plants  in  this  vineyard  was 
about  five  feet  each  way.  Some  of  the  vines  were 
very  old,  and  appeared  to  be  in  very  bad  condition. 
The  vinador  said  they  were  renewing  them  gradual- 
ly, and  thus  the  vineyard  was  not  all  in  full  bearing. 
Some  plants,  which  were  only  six  years  old,  appeared 
extremely  vigorous ;  and  as  the  grapes  had  not  been 
gathered  from  a  part  of  them,  we  counted  the  bunches 


ENVIRONS  OF  XERES.  19 

on  a  considerable  number,  and  found  them  to  average 
eight  or  nine  ;  and  from  our  own  estimate,  and  that  of  ' 
the  vinador,  the  whole  weight  of  the  fruit  might  be 
from  14  to  16  Ibs.  on  each.  All  the  new  varieties,  he 
said,  were  of  the  variety  called  Uva  de  Rey.  There 
was  a  dunghill  of  fresh  horse  dung  collected  outside 
the  vineyard ;  and  though  we  were  uncertain  whether 
we  understood  each  other's  meaning,  we  supposed 
him  to  say,  that  they  manured  each  plant  annually. 
The  plants  had  each  from  two  to  four  mother  branches, 
according  to  their  strength,  and  had  almost  invariably 
been  pruned  down  to  one  or  two  spurs  on  each. 

In  the  cellar  there  were  four  presses,  which  con- 
sisted of  nothing  else  than  large  wooden  troughs, 
about  eight  feet  square,  and  from  twelve  to  fourteen 
inches  deep.  This  is  the  general  size ;  and  each  will 
contain,  at  one  time,  as  many  grapes  as  will  yield  a 
butt  of  wine.  A  coarse  wooden  screw  stands  in  the 
centre  of  the  trough,  which  is  worked  by  a  lever  not 
more  that  five  feet  long  in  all,  so  that  each  arm  is  only 
two  and  a  half  feet.  In  some  of  the  casks  which  con- 
tained the  juice  that  had  been  last  pressed,  we  ob- 
served a  vessel,  like  a  very  wide  funnel,  fixed  into  the 
bung  hole.  The  object  of  this  is  to  return  into  the 
cask  all  the  froth  and  wine  which  is  thrown  up  in  the 
fermentation ;  for,  in  this  part  of  Spain,  all  the  wine 
is  fermented  in  butts,  with  only  the  bung  hole  open. 
By  this  means  all  the  yeast,  which  the  French  are  so 
anxious  to  get  rid  of,  is  returned  upon  the  wine,  to 
feed  it,  as  they  say.  The  consequence,  of  course,  is  a 
renewal  of  the  fermentation  whenever  there  is  a  change 
of  weather,  or  the  cask  is  put  in  motion.  The  wine 
continues  in  the  butt  in  which  it  is  fermented  till 
March,  when  it  is  racked  off  the  lees.  This  is  the  al- 
most universal  practice  of  the  country. 

In  the  course  of  our  ride  we  passed  a  flock  of  sheep, 
about  250  in  number ;  the  majority  were  black  and 
short  wooled.  The  wool  is  worked  up  into  common 
cloth  of  its  original  colour.  It  is  worth  3  reals  vellon 
(15  cents)  per  Ib.  The  white  sheep  were  of  a  totally 


20        SHEEP  AND  CATTLE  OF  ANDAU  SIA. 

different  breed,  with  long  white  fleeces,  more  resem- 
bling hair  than  wool.  We  also  saw  two  men  on 
horseback,  and  several  on  foot,  with  a  herd  of  cattle. 
The  horsemen  were  the  proprietors,  who  had  been 
mustering.  There  were  about  three  hundred  in  the 
herd,  chiefly  young,  and  all  dry.  The  cows  had  little 
appearance  of  milk,  and  the  breed  was  altogether  bad. 
This,  as  I  was  given  to  understand,  was  a  fair  sample 
of  the  sheep  and  cattle  of  the  province.  It  is  not  law- 
ful to  enclose  cornfields  ;  nor,  indeed,  are  any  enclo- 
sures lawful,  except  for  vineyards  or  gardens.  As 
soon  as  the  grain  is  off  the  fields  they  are  common  pro- 
perty, and  every  one  who  chooses  is  entitled  to  send 
cattle  or  sheep  upon  them :  a  law  which,  perhaps 
more  than  any  other,  strikes  at  the  root  of  agricultu- 
ral prosperity,  and  keeps  the  agriculture  of  Andalusia 
in  its  present  barbarous  condition. 

Monday,  3d  October. — Mr.  James  Gordon  having 
invited  Dr.  Wilson  and  myself  to  visit  a  vineyard  be- 
longing to  him,  about  four  miles  from  Xeres,  we  ac- 
cordingly started  at  about  one  o'clock ;  Mr.  Gordon 
riding  a  black  barb,  or  jennet,  which  he  valued  at  £100 
($475,)  and  which  he  said  had  cost  him  £70,  (-$332  50.) 
We  passed  out  of  the  town  by  this  direction,  as  wcl  I 
as  by  every  other,  through  hills  of  dung,  which  had 
been  allowed  to  accumulate,  and  appeared  to  be  consi- 
dered as  not  worth  taking  farther.  The  road  lay  be- 
tween immense  hedges  of  the  cactus,  or  prickly  pear, 
and  aloe,  planted  on  the  top  of  high  banks,  and  ma- 
king a  fence  which  would  prove  a  considerable  im- 
pediment to  the  march  of  an  army.  Mr.  Gordon  point- 
ed out  a  hedge  of  prickly  pears  two  years  old ;  and 
which,  even  though  it  had  been  on  the  level  ground, 
would  already  prove  a  very  tolerable  fence.  He  is  of 
opinion  that  the  original  plants,  if  properly  looked  af- 
ter, will  form  a  fence  for  forty  years  ;  and  if  renewed 
with  occasional  fresh  plants,  would  last  for  ever. 

The  aloe  is  also  much  used  for  fencing,  but  is  con- 
sidered by  Mr.  Gordon  as  very  inferior  to  the  prickly 
pear,  as  it  dies  off  whenever  it  has  flowered.  There 


EJCVIRONS  OF  XERBS.  21 

is  a  prejudice  that  this  plant  flowers  only  once  in  a 
hundred  years,  and  it  is  thence  called  the  centennial 
aloe.     The  truth  is,  that  though  it  is  often  many  years 
in  flowering,  when  it  has  once  flowered  it  dies  off  for 
ever.     If  there  is  any  part  of  the  rural  economy  of 
the  Andalusians  which  the   settler  of  New   South 
Wales  could  adopt  with  advantage,  it  is  the  hedge  of 
prickly  pears.     It  is  not  possible  to  imagine  a  more 
effectual  fence,  nor  one  which  it  would  take  less  trou- 
ble to  plant  or  keep  in  order.     It  is  only  necessary  to 
place,  at  certain  distances  along  the  proposed  line,  a 
leaf,  or  part  of  a  leaf,  of  the  plant.     In  nineteen  cases 
out  of  twenty  they  will  take  root  without  any  further 
trouble  ;  and  in  two  years,  or  three  at  the  farthest,  there 
will  be  a  more  effectual  fence  than  a  four-railed  one. 
The  only  objection  to  this  kind  of  fence  is  the  room  it 
occupies  after  a  few  years'  growth,  if  not  pruned 
down :  but,  in  New  South  Wales,  we  are  not  yet  so 
much  pressed  for  room  as  to  make  this  an  objection. 
To  those  who  may  feel  inclined  to  adopt  this  recom- 
mendation it  may  be  a  useful  hint.     Though  I  was 
told  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  keep  the  prickly  pears 
from  growing,  even  by  cutting  the  leaves  into  small 
pieces  and  throwing  them  on  a  dry  spot,  still  it  would 
be  worth  the  trouble  to  place  each  leaf,  or  part  of  a 
leaf,  in  a  spadeful  of  manure,  both  to  insure  its  stri- 
king and  its  more  vigorous  growth. 

The  road  to  Don  Jacobo's  vineyard  passed  at  first 
through  banks  of  albariza,  but  we  presently  came  to 
the  arenas,  or  sandy  soils,  which  adjoin  the  common 
of  Xeres.  Don  Jacobo's  vineyard  was  in  this  soil. 
His  people  had  just  recommenced  the  vintage  after 
the  rain,  and  were  now  assembled  to  dinner ;  which 
consisted  of  a  kind  of  cold  soup  made  from  water, 
with  oil,  vinegar,  salt,  and  pepper,  and  salads  scraped 
down,  or  cut  small.  The  more  substantial  part  of  the 
meal  was  bread,  prickly  pears,  sweet  pepper,  and 
grapes. 

I  here  tasted  some  of  the  boiled  must  which  is  used 
for  colouring  the  wine.  It  was  literally  the  quintes- 


22  ENVIRONS  OF  XERES. 

sence  of  the  must,  having  been  boiled  down  to  a  fifth 
part  of  its  original  bulk.  It  was  as  thick  as  treacle, 
and  resembled  it  in  flavour,  but  with  a  strong  burned 
taste. 

Don  Jacobo  Gordon's  vineyard  yielded  him,  when 
in  a  good  state,  from  2^-  to  4  butts  of  wine  per  acre. 
At  present  it  is  in  a  course  of  renewal,  having  been 
ruined  by  the  spread  of  a  kind  of  grass  which  sends 
its  roots  to  the  depth  of  four  feet.  A  certain  portion, 
which  had  been  planted  within  the  last  five  years,  ap- 
peared to  be  in  a  good  state  of  bearing  ;  another  part 
was  only  two  years  old.  The  young  vines  were  all  ve- 
ry healthy,  and  had  been  cut  down  to  two  or  three  mo- 
ther branches,  with  one  knot  on  each.  In  forming  the 
young  vines,  as  well  as  in  pruning  them  afterwards, 
great  care  is  taken  to  have  the  branches  in  such  a  di- 
rection that  they  will  balance  each  other  upon  the 
stock,  the  latter  being  generally  from  12  to  18  inches 
from  the  ground  before  the  branches  spring  out.  The 
object  of  this  care  is,  of  course,  to  support  the  bunches 
from  the  ground  without  the  aid  of  props  or  stakes. 
It  cost  £56  ($266)  an  acre  to  renew  the  plantation 
of  this  vineyard,  it  being  necessary  to  trench  it  to  the 
depth  of  four  feet,  in  order  to  get  out  the  grass.  The 
soil,  as  turned  up,  even  from  that  depth,  was  extreme- 
ly sandy.  The  plants  here,  as  elsewhere  throughout 
the  district,  were  at  the  distance  of  five  feet  from  each 
other  in  both  directions.  The  varieties  which  had 
been  planted  were  the  Pedro  Ximenes  and  Uva  de  Rey,- 
white,  and  Tintilla,  black.  Black  grapes  are,  however, 
very  rarely  cultivated  here.  The  different  varieties 
were  planted  in  distinct  divisions.  1  observed  that 
some  of  the  old  vines  which  it  was  intended  to  eradi- 
cate this  season,  were  loaded  with  grapes,  having  been 
pruned  to  carry  as  many  as  possible.  This  is  what 
the  French  called  charge  a  mort,  and  the  practice  here 
was  known  by  a  name  of  similar  import.  The  vines 
are  regularly  manured  with  any  kind  of  dung-,  in  ge- 
neral, strong  stable  dung :  not  every  year,  because, 
said  Mr.  Gordon's  chief  vinador,  who  accompanied 


OLIVES.  23 

us,  he  could  not  procure  it.  He  would  dung  them 
every  year  if  he  had  the  means,  and  did  not  seem  to 
consider  that  the  quality  of  the  wine  would  be  affected 
by  it.  But  this  vineyard,  as  well  as  all  others  on  the 
same  kind  of  soil,  only  produced  inferior  wines. 

The  olive  having  been  mentioned,  we  were  shown 
two  olives,  which  supported  a  wheel  for  drawing  wa- 
ter from  the  well.  Two  posts  having  been  required  for 
this  purpose  when  they  were  clearing  the  ground  of 
some  olive  trees  three  years  ago,  they  took  two  of  the 
trunks  of  these,  which  were  respectively  10  or  12 
inches  in  diameter  ;  they  nevertheless  took  root,  and 
are  now  covered  with  strong  branches,  affording  a 
proof  of  the  great  facility  with  which  the  olive  takes 
root.     The  vinador  said  that  an  olive  would  produce 
a  crop  three  years  after  its  plantation,  but  not  a  full 
crop  till  its  fifth  year,  and  would  reach  its  greatest  per- 
fection in  its  tenth  year.     He  said  a  plant  ought  to  be 
the  limb  of  a  tree  of  the  thickness  of  a  man's  arm. 
Being  asked  how  long  it  would  take  before  a  slip, 
such  as  we  plant  in  ]\ew  South  Wales,  would  bear  a 
crop,  he  appeared  to  consider  the  proposal  as  ridicu- 
lous, and  said  he    thought  twenty  years.     He   did 
not  consider  the  oil  of  young  olives  inferior  to  that  of 
the  old :  the  only  difference  in  their  value  arises  from 
their    quantity.      The  olive   is  not  now   cultivated 
in  this  district  to  the  same  extent  as  formerly,  the  su- 
perior attention  bestowed  upon  it  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Seville  having  made  the  slovenly  cultivation  pur- 
sued here  unprofitable.     The  trees  are  planted  with 
considerable  regularity,   at  the  distance  of  36  or  40 
feet.     An  average  crop,  Don  Jacobo  says,  "  is  from 
1^  to  l-£  aj-robas"  that  is,  from  5  to  6  English  gallons 
each  tree. 

In  passing  through  this  vineyard  I  observed  a  very 
considerable  variety  of  grapes,  differing  not  only  in 
appearance  but  taste;  but  many  of  those  which  were 
evidently  distinct  were  said  by  the  vinador  to  be  Uie 
same.  He  would  not  admit  that  there  were  more  than 


24  ENVIRONS   OF  XERES. 

four  or  five  kinds.  I  should  have  judged  the  number 
to  be  not  fewer  than  twenty ;  and  Mr.  Cormack,  a 
member  of  Mr.  Wilson's  house,  afterwards  informed 
me  that  there  was  at  least  that  number  of  varieties  in 
all  the  vineyards  round  Xeres,  and  he  thought  this  was 
one  cause  of  the  excellence  of  the  wine.  On  our  way 
back  to  town  I  examined  one  of  the  norias  which  sup- 
plies Xeres  with  water.  The  well  was  about  40 
feet  in  depth,  and  7  in  diameter.  The  machi- 
nery by  which  the  water  is  raised  is  of  the  rudest  con- 
struction. A  horizontal  wheel  with  large  teeth  turns 
a  vertical  one  of  about  five  feet  in  diameter ;  over  this 
wheel  passes  a  flat  band,  made  of  a  kind  of  grass,  to 
which  earthen  pots  are  attached  over  its  whole  extent. 
The  pots  go  down  empty  at  one  side  and  come  up  full 
at  the  other.  The  water  is  thus  raised  to  a  cistern  of 
sufficient  elevation  to  send  the  water  to  the  town, 
about  a  mile  off.  It  struck  me  that  any  settler  of  New 
South  Wales  could  construct  such  a  piece  of  of  ma- 
chinery with  his  own  men,  and  even  without  the  aid  of 
a  mechanic. 

Tuesday,  4th  of  October. — About  10  this  morning, 
in  company  with  my  indefatigable  friend  Dr.  Wilson, 
I  started  to  visit  the  vineyard  of  Don  Pedro  Domecq, 
celebrated,  under  the  name  of  Machar  Nudo,  for  pro- 
ducing first-rate  sherry  wines.  After  quitting  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  the  town,  we  passed  over  open 
downs,  which  bore  the  appearance  of  having  been 
under  crop,  but  without  a  single  enclosure  or  land- 
mark so  far  as  we  could  observe.  The  downs  were 
skirted  on  the  left  by  the  chalky  hills  (albarizas,) 
covered  with  the  vine,  and  carefully  enclosed  by  hedges 
of  the  prickly  pear  and  aloe,  planted  as  usual  on  ihe 
tops  of  high  banks.  We  passed  three  ploughs  at 
work,  following  on  the  same  furrow.  The  plough  is 
of  the  rudest  construction,  exactly  similar  to  what  are 
represented  in  those  plates  which  exhibit  the  first  in- 
vented implements  of  agriculture.  There  is  no  mould- 
board,  and  the  plough  consequently  makes  only  a  series 
of  drills,  without  turning  a  single  furrow.  It  has  only 


SHERRY    VINEYARDS.  25 

handle,  and  is  sometimes  held  in  the  right  and 
sometimes  in  the  left  hand,  the  mules  with  which  they 
.generally  plough  being  guided  and  driven  with  the  o1  her 
hand.  As  usual,  when  riding  among  vineyards,  we 
entered  the  albarizas  through  a  road  between  steep 
banks  and  hedges — the  bottom  of  the  road  being  in 
general  the  compact  stratum  of  chalk.  Don  Pedro's 
vineyard  lies  in  a  north-easterly  direction  from  Xeres, 
and  consists  entirely  of  chalky  hills.  It  was  evident, 
on  entering  the  enclosure,  that  the  vines  were  treated 
with  much  greater  care  than  any  we  had  examined. 
The  mother  branches  were  better  balanced  arM  sup- 
ported from  the  ground,  and  were  regularly  pruned  ; 
and  not  a  weed  or  a  blade  of  grass  was  to  be  seen 
among  them.  The  immediate  vicinity  of  the  house 
was  tastefully  planted  with  a  profusion  of  ornamental 
trees,  within  which  was  an  extensive  paved  court, 
surrounded  by  a  wall  and  railing  ;  the  cellars  were  on 
a  much  larger  scale  than  in  any  of  the  vineyards  we 
had  before  seen  or  passed  ;  the  house  neither  large  nor 
convenient,  and  in  a  great  degree  spoiled  by  some  of 
the  rooms  being  made  the  passages  to  a  high  tower 
which  he  has  built  to  have  a  view  of  all  parts  of  the 
the  vineyard,  and  which  has  been  carried  to  a  great 
height,  in  order  to  command  a  prospect  of  Cadiz,  on  the 
south-west,  and  Seville  to  the  north.  "  A  certain  man 
planted  a  vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round,  and  having 
digged  a  wine  press,  and  built  a  tower,  he  let  it  out  to 
husbandmen."  Every  vineyard,  of  any  considerable 
extent  here,  has  also  its  tower,  but,  in  general,  they 
are  less  than  half  the  height  of  that  of  Machar  Nudo. 
Mr.  Domecq  is  a  gentleman  of  French  extraction,  and 
speaks  English  fluently.  We  found  him  under  the  ve- 
randah of  his  wine  cellar,  and  having  mentioned  the 
object  of  our  visit,  he  undertook,  with  great  readiness, 
to  give  us  all  the  information  we  should  ask :  he 
answered  my  questions  and  explained  his  proceedings 
in  the  manner  of  a  man  who  was  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  his  subject,  and  had  not  been  accustomed  to  follow 
blindly  the  practices  he  had  found  established.  He 
3 


26  ENVIRONS   OF  XERES. 

said  he  was  gradually  renewing  his  vineyards,  the 
vines  having  been  destroyed  in  many  places  by  a  very 
destructive  insect — a  small  white  worm,  with  a  black 
head,  which  eats  into  the  heart  of  the  old  stock,  and 
destroys  it ;  vines  he  said,  which  would  have  been 
good  for  150  years,  were  thus  rendered  useless — they 
were  now  40  years  old  ;  he  attributed  it  to  injudicious 
pruning.  It  was  customary  to  cut  off  the  bearing 
branch  close  to  the  old  wood  ;  by  this  means  the  worm 
either  obtained  an  entrance  to  the  heart  of  the  stock 
full  grown,  or  was  deposited  in  the  egg,  on  the  decay- 
ed part,  and  worked  its  way  in  when  formed.  A  foot- 
ing once  obtained,  there  was  no  mode  of  getting  rid  of 
it,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  vines  became 
every  year  more  injured  in  health,  till  they  were  at 
length  incapable  of  yielding  a  crop.  The  system 
which  Don  Pedro  adopted  in  pruning  was  to  leave  one 
knot  of  the  branch  cut  off,  which  prevented  the 
entrance  of  the  insect  into  the  stock. 

His  mode  of  pruning  differed  from  what  we  had  pre- 
viously observed :  instead  of  leaving  only  one,  or  at 
most  two  knots  on  each  of  three  or  four  branches,  as 
was  the  case  in  the  other  vineyards  we  had  examined, 
he  left  one  branch  with  seven  or  eight  knots,  and  two 
others  with  one  knot  each,  pruning  them  down  alter- 
nately ;  he  did  not  consider  that  this  was  burthening  a 
young  and  healthy  vine  too  much.  He  was  in  the  habit 
of  manuring  his  vineyards,  but  not  each  year  in  the 
same  place.  He  considered  it  a  disadvantage  to  have 
many  varieties,  and  was  confining  his  new  plantations 
to  three  or  four.  He  said  that  all  the  varieties  men- 
tioned by  Roxas  Clemente  were  to  be  found  in  the 
vineyards  of  Xeres,  but  the  proprietors  were  all 
anxious  to  make  it  be  believed  that  their  vineyards 
contained  only  the  most  celebrated  sorts.  Don  Pedro 
Domecq's  vineyard  contains  about  200  acres,  and  yields 
from  600  to  800  butts  of  wine,  according  to  the  season. 
This  year  a  large  proportion  of  the  grapes  in  his  vine- 
yard, as  well  as  in  other  vineyards  throughout  the  coun- 
try, had  rotted,  in  consequence  of  the  season  having 


SHERRY   WINES.  27 

been  unusually  wet.  He  said  that  in  future  years  he 
should  take  care  to  prevent  this  result,  by  unleaving 
the  vines,  and  allowing  the  rays  of  the  sun  to  reach  the 
grapes.  He  trenched  the  ground  to  the  depth  of  a 
vara,  (33  inches ;)  he  said  he  did  not  consider  it  ad- 
vantageous to  go  very  deep,  it  allowed  the  roots  to 
penetrate  too  far  from  the  heat  of  the  air  ;  he  did  not 
approve  of  the  practice  usual  in  the  country  of  leaving 
holes  about  the  foot  of  the  vines,  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting  the  moisture  to  the  roots;  he  preferred 
having  it  all  well  dug  over ;  this  was  done  three,  or  even 
four  times  a  year,  and  when  first  dressed  in  the  winter 
after  the  pruning,  it  is  turned  up  to  the  depth  of  14  or 
15  inches. 

On  entering  his  cellar,  or  rather  pressing-room,  we 
found  the  labourers  at  their  dinner.  Bread  seemed 
here,  as  elsewhere,  the  chief  article  of  their  diet. 
There  was  also  abundance  of  prickly  pears  and  grapes. 
We  passed  to  the  cellar  where  the  new-made  wine 
was  stowed,  and  tasted  it  in  its  various  states.  The 
wine  of  a  fortnight  old  was  still  very  sweet,  although 
the  fermentation  was  now  barely  sensible.  We  also 
tasted  the  sweet  wine  of  the  same  age,  made  from  the 
Pedro  Xirnsnes  grape, and  we  conceived  it  to  be  barely 
possible  for  any  thing  to  be  more  luscious,  although 
we  were  informed  that  in  a  dry  season  it  is  much 
richer.  He  said  he  had  about  200  butts  of  the  sweet 
wine,  and  wished  it  were  all  of  that  quality,  it  was  so 
useful  in  mixing  with  his  purchased  wine  for  exporta- 
tion. We  observed  some  casks  marked  podrida,  as 
being  made  from  rotten  grapes,  and  asked  if  there  was 
not  great  danger  of  that  wine  turning  out  ill.  He  re- 
plied yes,  by  the  ordinary  management  of  the  country, 
but  he  had  adopted  a  different  system  of  treatment. 
He  said,  that  instead  of  putting  a  funnel  into  the  bung- 
hole  of  the  cask  to  prevent  the  scum  from  escaping,  no 
sooner  was  the  violence  of  the  fermentation  over,  than 
he  filled  up  the  cask,  in  order  that  it  might  work  over 
and  escape.  He  also  racked  off  his  wine  into  clean 
casks  at  the  end  of  two  months,  or  even  a  shorter 


28  ENVIRONS  OF    XERES. 

period,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  remain  in  the  cask  in 
which  it  was  fermented  till  March  or  April,  as  was 
the  general  custom.  He  says  that  brandy  is  added  to 
the  sherry  wines,  ehicily  on  account  of  the  taste  of  the 
English,  who  are  its  principal  consumers  ;  but  it  is 
also  useful  in  preventing  scuddiness,  and  curing  it  when 
it  has  taken  place.  Don  Pedro  perfectly  agreed  in  an 
^pinion  which  I  offered,  that  if  wines  were  made  with 
"sound  grapes  only,  and  more  perfectly  fermented,  this 
scuddiness  would  never  occur.  I  represented  to  him 
the  advantage  of  large  vats  for  fermenting  the  wine. 
He  acknowledged  the  probability  of  a  more  perfect 
fermentation  taking  place  in  large  vats,  and  of  the  wine 
being  the  earlier  ready  for  the  market  in  consequence  ; 
but  objected,  that  where  there  were  700  or  800  butts 
to  make,  it  would  require  so  great  a  number  of  vats, 
that  it  would  not  be  practicable.  I  explained  to  him 
that  the  fermentation  would  be  so  much  sooner  over  in 
consequence  of  its  violence,  that  the  wine  might  be  in 
general  drawn  offinto  casks  after  five  or  six  days,  and 
thus  the  same  vats  might  be  used  many  times ;  for  in 
consequence  of  the  care  that  is  observed  in  the  vine- 
yards which  yield  sherry,  to  have  all  the  grapes 
thoroughly  ripe,  the  vintage  will  frequently  continue 
for  six  weeks,  commencing  about  the  middle  of  Sep- 
tember, and  seldom  being  completed  till  the  end  of 
( ),:ti>bcr.  In  the  vineyards  yielding  the  common  wines 
this  is  not  the  case  ;  when  the  majority  of  the  grapes 
are  ripe,  they  gather  the  whole,  and  their  vintage  is 
over  in  8  or  10  days.  My  observation,  as  to  the 
shortness  of  the  time  it  would  be  requisite  to  keep  the 
wine  in  the  vats,  appeared  to  get  over  his  diiliculty  ; 
a:ul  from  what  he  said,  I  think  it  likely  that  he  will  not 
allow  another  vintage  to  p:iss  without  giving  them  a 
trial.  lie  said  he  was  sensible  of  the  advantage  of  sul- 
•jtliuring  wine,  but  that  it  was  dillicult  to  prevent  the 
taste  from  remaining  :  and  that  it  sometimes  happened 
that  the  English  merchant  would  not  be  persuaded  that 
there  was  no  taste  of  sulphur,  even  when  none  had 
been  used,  He  had  got  M'CuJloch's  book,  and 


SHERRY    WINE    MAKING.  29 

aware  of  the  qualities  of  the  sulphate  of  potash,  which 
that  writer  so  strongly  recommends.  On  returning 
from  the  cellar  to  the  pressing-room  we  found  the 
presses  at  work.  There  were  eight  troughs,  similar 
in  shape  and  dimensions  to  those  formerly  described, 
each  with  its  wooden  screw  in  the  centre.  A  large 
quantity  of  grapes  being  heaped  up  in  one  part  of  the 
trough,  they  commence  by  strewing  upon  them  as 
much  powdered  gypsum,  or  sulphate  of  lime,  as  a  man 
can  take  up  with  both  hands.  A  portion  of  the  grapes 
are  then  spread  over  the  bottom  of  the  remainder  of 
the  trough,  upon  which  the  men  jump  with  great  vio- 
lence, having  wooden  shoes,  with  nails  to  prevent  their 
slipping.  After  the  greater  part  of  the  grapes  are 
pretty  well  broken,  they  are  piled  up  round  the  screw, 
and  a  flat  band,  made  of  a  kind  of  grass,  is  wound 
round  the  pile,  commencing  at  the  bottom,  the  broken 
grapes  being  heaped  and  pressed  in  as  the  band  is 
wrapped  higher  and  higher,  till  they  are  all  com- 
pressed into  it.  They  then  commence  working  the 
screw,  and  the  must  flows  with  great  rapidity. 
The  bottoms  of  the  troughs  are  elevated  about  2^ 
feet  above  the  floor  of  the  cellar,  and  each  has 
two  spouts,  under  which  tubs  are  placed,  and  jars 
in  the  tubs ;  and  as  the  jars  are  filled,  they  are 
carried  away  and  emptied  into  the  butts.  When  the 
whole  operation  is  completed,  the  bulk  of  the  husks 
or  skins  is  not  more  than  one  sixth  or  one  seventh  of 
what  the  grapes  appeared  when  first  placed  in  the 
troughs.  This  is  almost  the  universal  practice  of  the 
country;  but  some  persons  pour  a  jar  of  water  over 
f  the  grapes  at  the  same  time  that  they  strew  the  gyp- 
sum upon  them.  And  it  is  usual  to  add  water  to  the 
» skins  and  husks,  and  then  to  tread  and  press  them 
again.  This  yields  an  inferior  wine,  but  is  general- 
ly added  in  the  state  of  must  to  the  produce  of  the 
first  pressing.  It  has  been  observed,  that  in  very  dry 
>ns,  the  agua  pies,  as  this  is  called,  is  almost  equal 
to  the  yemas.  or  first  running.  Don  Pedro's  cellar 
contained  eight  of  these  presses,  all  of  which  were  at 
3* 


30  E.xvruoxs  OF  XEKI>. 

work  ;  1ml  he  \vas  erecting  a  press  upon  scientific  prin- 
ci])les,  the  plan  of  which  he  had  procured  from  France. 
1  did  not  wait  lo  examine  its  const  ruction.  Thevinta- 
!>r"U<iht  in  the  grapes  as  they  gathered  them,  in 
i!s,  which  they  caivied  upon  their  shoul- 
ders.    I  was  astonished  to  observe    that   so  little  at- 
tention was  paid  to  the  quality  of  the  trrapes  put   into 
the  press.    1  had  previously  observed  in  every  mule  or 
ass  load,  which  1  had  seen  conv.  pcs  from  the 

vineyard  towards  the  town,  that  a  large  proportion 
was  decayed,  but  I  thought  it  probable  that  some  selec- 
tion would  be  made  before  pressing.  Here,  however,  I 
observed  that  three-fourths  of  the  grapes  had  burst  in 
consequence  of  the  rain ;  and,  perhaps,  from  one-third  to 
one-half  appeared  to  be  far  advanced  towards  putre- 
faction, but  the  must  that  ran  from  them  was  never- 
theless perfectly  sweet.  Observing  so  little  selection 
in  a  vineyard  where  more  care  was  taken  than  in  any 
other  we  had  seen,  and  some  science  really  indicated 
by  the  proprietor,  I  concluded  that  nothing  was  more 
common  than  for  the  grapes  to  be  in  a  state  of  decay 
when  the  wine  was  made.  It  was  evident  that  if 
baskets  had  been  employed  in  which  to  gather  the 
grapes,  a  great  proportion  of  the  juice  would  have 
been  lost ;  but  there  was  an  immense  waste  of  labour 
in  each  vintager  bringing  what  he  had  gathered  the 
whole  way  to  the  cellar.  If  Don  Pecro  had  left  roads 
for  a  cart,  or  even  paths  for  a  mule  through  his  vine- 
yard, he  might  have  brought  his  grapes  to  the  press 
with  half  the  manual  labour  he  now  employs.  Hav- 
ing an  engagement  to  dine  with  Don  Jacobo  Gordon 
at  3  o'clock,  we  quitted  Don  Pedro  Domccq's  vine- 
yard  sooner  than  I  would  have  wished  to  part  with  its 
intelligent  proprietor.  He  is  the  largest  holder  of 
wine  in  Xeres,  and  exports  more  than  any  other  mer- 
chant. 

Wednesday^  5th  October. — At  seven  this  morning  I 
took  leave  of  my  hospitable  and  very  attentive  friends 
at  Xeres  dc.  la  Fronjera  ;  Doctor  Wilson  having  en- 
gaged, at  the  proper  season,  to  procure  and  send  me 


NORIAS,  OR  WATER  V.'IIEELS.  31 

to  London  cuttings  of  all  the  varieties  of  vines  cultiva- 
ted in  that  neighbourhood.  I  haft  engaged  a  calesa,  a 
wretched  sort  of  gig,  to  convey  me  to  San  Lucar, 
there  to  join  the  steamboat  for  Seville,  this  being  con- 
sidered my  best  route  to  Malaga,  whither  I  now  pro- 
posed to  make  the  best  of  my  way.  "\Vc  had  only  pro- 
ceeded three  or  four  miles,  when  one  of  the  wheels  be- 
came loosened,  and  the  Calesera  had  no  means  of  re- 
pairing the  damage,  there  was  nothing,  therefore,  for 
it  but  to  return.  Accompanied  by  Dr.  Wilson,  I  rode 
out  in  a  different  direction  from  any  we  had  previously 
taken,  and  stopped  to  examine  more  particularly  one 
of  the  norias  which  supply  Xeres  with  water.  We 
entered  a  stable,  and  ascended  to  the  loft  where  the 
mules  work  ;  the  ascent  is  without  steps,  to  allow  the 
mules  to  go  up  and  down.  The  elevation  of  this  loft  was 
ten  feet ;  the  mules  were  not  at  work,  and  the  driver 
lighted  a  piece  of  rope  and  let  it  down  into  the  well  to 
show  us  its  depth  ;  the  well  is  about  seven  feet  in  dia- 
meter, and  25  varas  (about  70  feet)  to  the  water,  which 
has  a  depth  of  1 1  feet,  making  the  whole  depth  of  the 
well  about  80  feet. 

The  circle  round  which  the  mule  treads  is  30  or  35 
feet  in  diameter ;  the  horizontal  wheel  is  10  feet ;  the 
vertical  wheel  8.  They  act  upon  each  other  by  a  se- 
ries of  teeth,  which  are  merely  pegs  fixed  to  the  out- 
side of  the  wheel.  The  teeth  projecting  from  the  ho- 
rizontal wheel  were  ten  inches ;  those  from  the  verti- 
cal wheel  8  inches  in  length.  The  horizontal  wheel 
is  turned  by  a  lever  attached  to  the  top  of  the  beam, 
about  10  or  11  feet  in  height,  and  falling  at  an  angle 
to  the  height  of  the  shoulders  of  the  mule.  The  cir- 
cular bands,  to  which  are  attached  the  earthen  jars, 
are  made  of  a  kind  of  grass  which  is  in  general  use 
for  that  purpose.  The  jars  are  separate  about  six  or 
seven  inches,  and  are  very  deep  in  proportion  to  their 
width;  they  are  fixed  between  the  two  bands,  by 
cords  passing  round  the  middle,  (where  their  girth  is 
least,)  and  near  the  top ;  the  whole  length  of  the  cir- 
cular bands  is,  of  course,  twice  the  depth  of  the  well  ? 


32  ENVIRONS  OF  XERES. 

the  number  of  the  pots  is  37,  and  they  are  about  four 
feet  apart.  When  tlfe  wheel  is  set  in  motion,  they 
descend  empty  on  one  side,  and  passing  through  the 
water,  rise  nearly  full  on  the  other  side  of  the  well ; 
there  are  small  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the  jars,  to  allow 
the  air  to  escape  when  they  enter  the  water,  there  is, 
consequently,  a  constant  leakage  from  jar  to  jar  as  they 
ascend.  Each  of  the  jars  delivers  irom  four  to  five 
English  pints  at  each  re  volution  of  the  wheel  (of  ropes.) 
The  trough,  into  which  they  are  emptied  as  the  wheel 
turns,  is  on  a  level  with  its  centre.  When  there  is  a 
greater  demand  for  water  in  the  very  dry  season, 
they  double  the  number  of  pots,  putting  one  between 
each  of  those  now  in  use,  and  yoking  a  second  mule. 
They  thus  double  the  quantity  of  water  delivered  in 
the  same  time.  The  water  is  conveyed  to  the  town 
in  earthen  pipes,  and  sold  from  the  cistern  to  which  it 
flows,  the  norias  being  all  private  property. 

Having  finished  our  examination  of  the  noria,  we 
proceeded  to  the  adjoining  vineyard,  where  half  a  dozen 
men  were  employed  in  gathering  the  grapes.  This  vine- 
yard is  situated  in  what  are  called  the  arenas,  (sands ;) 
the  soil  is  a  light  sandy  loam,  and  though  surrounded 
by  hills  of  chalk,  did  not  appear  on  trial  to  contain  the 
smallest  portion  of  calcarious  matter. 

The  soil  seemed  capable  of  supporting  a  more  vi- 
gorous vegetation  than  at  any  place  we  had  visited, 
and  the  vines  were  pruned  accordingly.  On  each 
vine  there  was  at  least  one  long  branch,  containing 
from  eight  to  ten  knots,  and  from  two  to  four  spurs, 
with  one  or  two  knots  each.  On  some  vines  there 
were  two  branches,  one  containing  eight  or  ten 
knots,  the  other  four  or  five,  beside  three  or  four  spurs, 
with  one  or  two  knots  each.  On  one  or  two  vines, 
which  seemed  very  heavily  charged,  I  counted  twelve 
knots  on  one  branch,  and  seven  spurs  ;  the  crop  was 
in  proportion,  many  of  the  vines  producing  twenty 
bunches  and  upwards.  The  average  weight  of  fruit  on 
.*  each  vine  could  not  be  l^ss  than  from  L'5  to  30  Ibs.  The 

i vinador  said,  the  extcii  L  of  the  vineyard  was  ten  aran- 

//.. 

<<••» 


VLVEYARDS.  33 

zadas,  (9  acres,  2  roods,  10  perches  :)  the  produce  va- 
ried according  to  the  season,  from  forty  to  fifty  butts  ; 
forty- five  butts  is  about  six  hundred  gallons,  old  mea- 
sure, for  each  English  acre.  The  other  vineyards  in 
the  arenas  seemed  to  be  pruned  in  the  same  manner, 
and  to  be  fully  as  heavily  charged  with  fruit.  The 
vinador  said  the  wine  was  of  very  good  quality.  The 
grapes  were  chiefly  the  variety  called  Uva  de  Rey ; 
but  there  were  also  a  very  few  of  the  Pedro  Ximenes, 
and  one  or  two  other  varieties.  The  vines  in  this 
vineyard  appeared  to  be  ia  the  highest  state  of  health, 
and  had  evidently  been  treated  with  the  greatest  care 
from  the  commencement.  They  were  now  twenty- 
five  years  of  age ;  the  branches  were  so  well  arranged 
that  they  balanced  each  other  upon  the  stock  ;  and  few 
props  were  therefore  required,  the  height  of  the  stock 
being  from  16  to  20  inches.  Where,  from  the  weight 
of  fruit,  a  prop  was  required,  it  consisted  of  a  piece 
of  cane,  with  a  fork  cut  in  the  end  of  it,  and  in  this 
fork  the  branch  rested.  A  small  spot  in  the  vineyard 
had  been  newly  planted  ;  he  said  the  ground  had  been 
trenched  to  the  depth  of  a  vara,  or  a  vara  and  a  quar- 
ter. These  vines  were  only  manured  once  in  four  or 
five  years ;  the  reason  of  this,  he  said,  was  that  the 
ground  was  not  so  cold  as  the  albarizas,  and  did  not 
require  it  oftener. 

As  the  grapes  were  collected,  they  were  spread  out 
on  large  mats  in  the  sun's  rays.  This  is  very  com- 
monly the  practice  in  ordinary  seasons  ;  but  owing  to 
the  late  heavy  rains  coming  upon  the  grapes  when  the 
most  of  them  were  fully  ripe,  they  are  in  general 
hastening  on  the  vintage  this  season  without  attend- 
ing to  it.  The  vinador  said  they  would  be  put  in  the 
press  to-night,  and  pressed  next  morning. 

Mr.  Cormack  says,  that  this  vineyard  produces  only 
the  common  wine  of  the  country,  and  from  the  way 
it  was  cultivated  he  was  sure  it  must  yield  6  or  7 
butts  an  acre,  but  he  understood  that  a  large  portion 
of  the  grapes  were  sent  to  the  market.  The  arenas, 
in  general,  he  says,  yield  from  4  to  6  butts  a  Spanish 


34  VALUE  OP  VINEYARDS. 

acre,  which  is  worth,  on  being  made,  about  22  pesos  of 
15  reals  each.  Thus,  5  butts  will  amount  to  82^  Spa- 
nish dollars,  which  is  equal  to  about  £17  10s.  (883  12) 
per  aranzada,  or  £18  10s.  ($87  87)  per  English  acre. 
This  vineyard,  he  informed  me,  was  worth  300  dol- 
lars per  aranzada,  or  about  £60  (8313  50)  an  Eng- 
lish acre.  The  Albariza  vineyards  yield,  on  an  ave- 
rage, from  2\  to  3  butts  per  aranzada,  which  is  worth, 
including  the  agua  pies,  this  year,  (October,  1831,)  38 
pesos  per  butt ;  2f-  butts  amount,  therefore,  to  £16 
13s.  9d.  ($79  32,)  or  about  £17  10s.  per  English  acre. 
Mr.  Domecq's  vineyard  was  some  time  ago  valued  at 
40,000  Spanish  dollars.  The  extent  being  191  Eng- 
lish acres,  and  the  buildings  at  that  time  worth  3,000 
or  4,000  dollars,  the  value  of  the  whole  will  appear  to 
be  £7,756  5s.,  or  about  £40  12s.  ($193  84)  per  Eng- 
lish acre,  the  average  produce  being  about  800  butts. 
This,  at  38  pesos,  will  amount  to  £4,275  ($20,306) 
for  the  value  of  one  year's  produce  of  the  whole,  or 
£22  7s.  ($106)  per  acre.  The  expenses  of  cultiva- 
tion are  stated  by  Mr.  Cormack  to  be  from  50  to  60 
dollars  per  aranzada,  and  this  also  agrees  pretty  near- 
ly with  Mr.  Domecq's  statement.  It  therefore  appears 
that  the  profit  upon  an  acre  of  the  arenas  will  be  about 
£7  10s.  ($35  62 ;)  upon  .the  ordinary  albariza,  £5 
13s.  9d.  ($27 ;)  on  Mr.  Domecq's  £11  7s.  ($54.)  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  this  estimate  is  pretty  cor- 
rect, as  it  applies  to  the  arenas,  but  is  probably  under- 
rated in  the  albarizas  generally,  and  overrated  in  Mr. 
Domecq's. 

The  whole  extent  of  the  Xeres  vineyards,  which 
produce  wine  fit  for  the  English  market,  docs  not  ex- 
ceed 7,000  acres,  and  about  double  that  extent  will 
also  include  those  of  Port  Saint  Mary's  and  San  Lu- 
car.  A  great  portion  of  the  wines  exported  to  Eng- 
land under  the  name  of  sherry,  are  the  growth  of 
Malaga,  and  are  brought  round  and  transhipped  at 
Cadiz.  Most  of  the  sherries  sold  by  retail  in  England, 
under  40s.  a  dozen,  are  either  of  this  kind  or  of  the 
commonest  qualities  of  the  San  Lucar  and  Fort  Saint 


EXTENT  OF  THE  VINEYARDS.  35 

Mary's  vineyards.  The  whole  quantity  of  sherry 
annually  exported  from  Xeres,  does  not  exceed  25,000 
butts.  In  no  case  do  the  exporters  send  a  genuine 
natural  wine ;  that  is,  a  wine  as  it  comes  from  the 
press,  without  a  mixture  of  other  qualities.  It  is  ra- 
ther a  singular  circumstance  that  the  sale  of  the  pro- 
duce of  the  common  vineyards  is  more  ready  and 
certain  than  of  that  fit  for  exportation.  The  latter  is 
all  purchased  up  by  a  few  individuals,  and  held  by 
them  till  it  is  taken  off  by  the  gradual  demand.  The 
stock  is  equal  to  many  years'  consumption,  and  some 
of  the  holders  are  said  to  possess  stocks  to  the  amount 
of  a  million  dollars.  No  wine  is  allowed  by  law 
to  be  sold  for  consumption  till  it  is  twelve  months 
old.  The  produce  of  the  arenas  is  milch  greater  than 
of  the  albarizas,  but  a  greater  quantity  of  it  turns  sour. 
The  very  dry  wine  called  Amontillado,  is  generally 
said  to  be  produced  in  a  way  which  no  one  can  ac- 
count for,  as  it  is  not  possible  to  say  beforehand  whe- 
ther the  wine,  when  fermenting,  will  turn  out  sherry 
or  Amontillado.  If  so,  it  is  probably  the  result  of  a 
more  perfect  fermentation ;  indeed,  Mr.  Domecq 
agreed  with  me  in  this  opinion.  Rafael  Torda,  a  Spa- 
nish writer  on  wines,  says,  that  it  is  the  produce  of  a 
particular  grape,  the  Palomino,.  Although  the  Man- 
zanilla  and  common  wine  of  the  country  are  more  apt 
to  turn  sour  than  the  sherry,  the  latter  is  also  occa- 
sionally subject  to  that  degeneration.  Mr.  Domecq 
said,  that  as  many  as  100  butts  of  the  Machar  Nudo 
had  turned  sour  in  one  season ;  whether  after  the 
adoption  of  the  plan  of  allowing  the  scum  to  escape 
during  the  fermentation,  instead  of  returning  it  by  the 
funnel  upon  the  wine,  I  did  not  inquire.  Perhaps  it 
may  be  owing  to  the  grapes  of  part  of  the  vineyard 
being  of  an  inferior  quality,  or  there  may  be  something 
in  the  soil  or  exposure  which  prevents  their  attain- 
ing perfection.  Mr.  Domecq  said,  that  there  are  very 
few  of  the  grapes  which  are  good,  even  in  the  albariza 
vineyards,  and  that  the  finest  sherries  are  produced 
from  two  or  three  varieties  which  are  rather  scarce ; 


86  ^PRODUCE  OP  THE  VINEYARDS. 

of  one  variety  he  found  great  difficulty  in  procuring 
cuttings,  there  not  being  more  than  two  acres  of  it  in 
the  district  of  Xeres.  Scuddiness  is,  however,  the 
most  prevailing  defect  in  the  sherry  wines,  and  it  is 
worth  consideration  whether  this  is  not  owing  to  im- 
perfect fermentation.  We  tasted  wine  in  Mr.  Do- 
mccq's  cellar  which  was  quite  sweet,  although  three 
weeks  old.  The  violence  of  the  first  fermentation  is 
suppressed  by  the  smallness  of  the  vessel  in  which  it 
takes  place;  and  until  the  original  principles  of  the 
must,  which  remain  undecomposed,  are  separated  by 
subsequent  repeated  rackings,  or  changed,  after  a 
great  length  of  time,  into  alcohol,  they  are  always  lia- 
ble to  rir-;c  through  the  wine,  and  produce  this  scud- 
diness.  It  is  probable,  also,  that  the  absorption  of  the 
tartaric  acid  which  the  grapes  may  contain,  by  the  use 
of  gypsum,  may  be  a  still  further  hinderance  to  the 
fermentation.  On  the  whole,  I  think  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  were  the  fermentation  completed  in  large 
vessels,  and  the  wine  subsequently  racked  off  into 
casks,  this  scuddiness  would  never  appear ;  and,  con- 
sidering the  general  richness  of  the  grapes  of  this 
country  in  saccharine  matter,  there  would  be  as  little 
danger  of  acidity  if  the  casks  were  thoroughly  closed 
to  the  air  when  the  fermentation  should  have  ceased. 
Thursday,  Mh  October. — This  morning  I  again  start- 
ed in  a  calesa,  and,  after  about  four  hours'  travelling, 
accomplished  the  journey  to  the  little  town  of  Bo- 
nanza, above  San  Lucar,  the  distance  being  i  leagues. 
The  road  was  not  made  in  any  place,  but  there  were 
bridges  at  spots  which  would  be  otherwise  impass- 
able. After  about  three  or  four  miles'  travelling,  I 
quitted  the  vineyards,  which  for  that  distance  crowned 
the  chalky  hills  on  both  sides  of  the  valley  through 
which  the  road  passed.  The  country  was  now  open, 
and  without  a  single  tree  or  enclosure.  I  passed  several 
farm  steadings,  if  indeed  they  are  worthy  of  the  name. 
The  buildings  were  of  the  most  wretched  description, 
and  in  the  worst  possible  repair,  contrasting,  in  this 
respect,  most  strongly  with  the  cellars  and  pressing- 


.jj, 
ENVIRONS  OP  SAN  LUCAR.  37 

houses  in  the  vineyards,  all  of  which  were  in  good  or- 
der, and  well  whitewashed.  Here,  however,  no  far- 
mer lives  upon  his  farm.  At  seed  time  he  comes  with 
a  sufficient  number  of  people  to  plough  up  and  sow 
the  land,  and  returns  to  the  town  till  the  season  of 
harvest  again  calls  him  forth.  The  harvest  is  collected 
to  a  convenient  spot,  were  the  grain  is  trodden  out  by 
horses  and  cattle,  and  the  straw  is  most  generally 
burned ;  and  this  closes  the  labours  of  the  year.  At 
one  place  I  saw  seven  men  ploughing,  each  with  a 
pair  of  oxen,  and  following  each  other  in  the  same 
furrow.  The  oxen  were  yoked  by  the  head,  the  yoke 
resting  immediately  behind  the  horns,  and  being  se- 
cured round  the  forehead  of  the  animals.  Near  Bo- 
nanza I  passed  several  steep  hills  of  albariza,  covered 
with  vines,  and  terraced  on  the  most  precipitous 
sides. 

The  banks  of  the  Gaudalquiver,  for  ten  miles  above 
Bonanza,  are  low  alluvial  flats,  apparently  of  great 
extent ;  and  they  appeared,  perhaps  in  consequence  of 
the  late  heavy  rains,  too  wet  to  bear  the  pasturage  of 
cattle.  From  that  distance  the  lands  on  both  sides 
bore  the  marks  of  cultivation,  and  were  covered  with 
cattle  and  horses.  The  hills  which  bounded  these  al- 
luvial flats  were  covered  with  olives.  In  several 
places  they  were  gathering  Indian  corn  and  millet. 
On  approaching  Seville  there  was  here  and  there  a 
plantation  of  oranges.  The  alluvial  banks  had  very 
much  contracted  in  extent,  and,  though  higher  than 
those  lower  down  the  river,  were  in  no  place  more 
than  four  feet  above  the  water ;  but  the  river  was 
very  muddy,  and  was  probably  swelled  in  consequence 
of  the  rains. 

Friday,  "th  Oct.,  Seville. — I  find  that  the  ordinario, 
or  carrier,  with  whom  I  was  recommended  to  travel  to 
Malaga,  is  not  now  here,  and  is  not  expected  for  seve- 
ral days.  I  am  told  on  all  hands,  that  it  would  be 
madness  to  attempt  travelling  in  any  other  way,  as  the 
roads  are  so  much  infested  with  robbers,  that  every 
person  who  attempts  to  travel,  unless  under  the  pro- 
4 


38  SEVILLE    AND 

tection  of  the  ordinario,  is  sure  to  be  stripped.  The 
latter  personage  purchases  immunity  (or  himself  and 
his  passengers,  by  paying  a  sort  of  blackmail  every 
journey.  During  the  week  which  I  remained  at 
Seville,  waiting  for  the  carrier,  I  made  two  short  ex- 
cursions to  the  country.  I  had  understood  at  Xeres, 
that  the  neighbourhood  of  Seville  was  famous  for  its 
plantations  of  olives,  and  I  was  anxious,  during  my 
stay  here,  to  learn  as  much  as  possible  on  that  subject. 
My  first  expedition  was  to  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
Roman  city,  named  Italica,  which  stood  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  river,  about  two  leagues  above  where 
Seville  now  stands,  with  the  double  object  of  visiting 
the  ruins,  and  a  Convent  of  Hieronomite  monks,  who 
had  extensive  olive  plantations,  and  presses  for  extract- 
ing the  oil.  I  was  accompanied  by  a  gentleman  be- 
longing to  an  English  mercantile  house,  to  the  head  of 
which  I  had  brought  a  letter  of  introduction.  We 
passed  one  vineyard,  the  only  one  I  saw  within  many 
miles  of  Seville ;  and  the  wine  of  this,  the  calesera  said, 
was  not  good.  We  made  our  first  visit  to  the  convent., 
as  it  was  now  1 1  o'clock,  and  the  dinner  hour  of  the 
monks  was  12.  A  monk,  whom  we  met  in  the  outer 
yard,  desired  one  of  their  farming  men  to  show  us  the 
oil  press — a  very  clumsy  affair.  The  press  consists 
of  a  beam  of  immense  length,  and  not  less  than  five 
cubic  feet  in  thickness,  at  the  thickest  part.  The  pivot 
or  hinge,  on  which  this  lever  works,  is  placed  at  about 
one  fourth  of  the  length  of  the  beam  from  its  thickest 
end.  The  long  arm  of  the  lever  is  pressed  upwards 
by  a  screw,  and  the  thick  end  is  thus  pressed  down 
upon  the  olives  which  are  placed  under  it,  enclosed  in 
a  kind  of  mat  made  of  grass,  after  having  been  broken 
in  a  mill.  There  were  two  of  those  levers  in  the 
house.  The  man  who  showed  us  the  presses  said, 
that  a  good  olive  tree  would  yield  from  three  to  four 
fanegas  of  olives  in  a  good  year,  and  that  generally  a 
fanega  of  olives  would  yield  an  arroba  (about  4^  gal- 
lons) of  oil. — From  the  oil  presses  we  went  to  the  gar- 
den, where  there  are  a  few  fruit  trees,  and  where  they 


ITS    ENVIRONS.  39 

cultivate  vegetables.  There  was  neither  variety  in 
the  plants,  noi»taste  in  their  distribution  ;  but  here,  as 
elsewhere,  there  was  a  noria  at  work,  with  one  ox. 
The  water  was  conveyed  throughout  the  garden  by 
small  canals.  The  procurator,  or  steward  of  the  con- 
vent, to  whom  notice  had  been  sent  by  the  first  monk 
of  our  wish  to  see  the  premises,  had  returned  an  an- 
swer that  he  was  occupied  and  could  not  come.  We 
now  went  up  to  the  granary,  and  found  him  employed  in 
taking  an  account  of  a  quantity  of  wheat  which  some 
men  were  conveying  from  one  part  of  the  granary  to 
another.  Don  Peres,  my  companion,  expressed  to  him 
my  wish  to  see  every  thing  that  was  to  be  seen,  and 
particularly  the  oil  presses.  "  Ah,"  he  replied,  "  the 
English  are  a  very  ingenious  people ;  but  they  already 
know  every  thing  sufficiently  well,  and  do  not  need  to 
be  instructed."  He  therefore  saw  us  walking  about 
the  granary  without  stirring  from  his  seat,  or  offering 
a  single  observation,  and  he  seemed  very  well  pleased 
when  we  took  our  leave.  The  granary  contained  a 
considerable  quantity  of  very  fair  wheat,  also  some 
Indian  corn  and  millet.  I  looked  in  vain  to  discover  a 
single  weevil,  and  found  that  this  insect,  which  occa- 
sions such  ravages  with  us,  was  only  known  here  by 
name.  As  we  proceeded  to  Italica  we  found  a  large 
number  of  people  shelling  maize — the  greater  part 
belonging  to  the  monks,  who  are  the  proprietors  and 
farmers  of  most  of  the  land  surrounding  their  convent. 
Their  mode  of  shelling  was  to  take  a  blunt  iron  instru- 
ment (most  of  them  used  the  back  of  a  reaping  hook, 
or  the  instrument  with  which  they  clean  theirSploughs, 
and  holding  the  cob  in  their  left  hand,  with  the  thick-3*/"^ 
end  up,  continue  striking  it  till  all  the  corn  is  off,  Each  a  *V 
stroke  stripped  the  cob  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  place 
where  it  was  struck.  I  put  the  question  to  several, 
and  they  said  that  one  person  would  thus  shell  from  4  to 
to  5  fanegas,  that  is,  about  from  eight  to  ten  bushels  in 
a  day,  and  that  they  received  a  rial  for  each  fanega  ; 
that  is,  from  the  4th  to  the  5th  of  a  dollar  per  day ;  but 
they  do  not  earn  such  wages  at  every  kind  of  work. 
• 


40  SEVILLE    AND  ITS  ENVIRONS. 

The  crop  of  maize  appeared,  from  the  quality  of  the 
grain,  to  have  been  a  fine  one,  and  one, of  the  persons 
told  me  that  it  had  yielded  at  the  rate  of  about  50 
bushels  an  acre.    The  olives  on  the  trees  we  examined, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  convent,  did  not  appear  to 
have  suffered  so  much  as  those  of  Xeres.     The  man 
who  showed  us  the  presses,  said  that  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  a  failure  in  the  crop  of  olives  every 
second  year.     He  said  they  had  all  suffered  very  much 
this  year  in  consequence  of  the  rains  in  summer,  but 
that  even  this  year  their  olives  had  not  failed.     On  re- 
turning we  struck  off  into  a  field  where  a  lot  of  men 
and  horses  were    employed  in   treading  out  millet. 
There  were  nine  horses,  and  a  driver  to  every  three. 
They  were  driven  round  the  circle  all  abreast ;  the 
whole  superfices  of  a  very  large  circle,  from  the  centre 
outwards,  being  covered  with  the  tops  of  the  millet 
which  had  been  cut  off  with  very  little  of  the  straw. 
They  had  begun  about  mid-day  and  would  finish  at 
night.     The  produce  would  be   about  80  fanegas — 
160  bushels.     Many  of  the  fields  in  this  neighbour- 
hood are  cultivated  with  corn  crops  under  the  olive 
trees,  and  they  say  that  the  crop  is  not  injured  by  the 
latter.     The  olives  are  never  manured    unless  the 
ground  under  is  cultivated,  and  then  they  of  course 
receive  a  share  of  the  advantage  which  is  intended  for 
'the  corn. 

Having  been  told  by  the  merchant  to  whom  I 
brought  a  letter  of  introduction  that  a  Spanish  noble- 
man, the  Marquis  del  Arco  Hermoso,  had  introduced 
the  Florence  mode  of  preparing  oil,  which  he  had 
learnt  duEng  a  residence  in  Tuscany,  I  determined  on 
visiting  his  plantation,  which  lay  beyond  the  town  of 
Alcala,  about  four  leagues  from  Seville.  On  this  ex- 
cursion I  was  accompanied  by  Don  Francisco  Dias. 
a  Spanish  gentleman  who  spoke  French,  and  to  whom 
I  had  brought  an  introduction  from  Mr.  Gordon,  of 
Xeres.  We  expected  to  find  the  Marquis,  who  was 
a  particular  friend  of  Don  Francisco's,  at  his  planta- 
tion. 


OLIVE  PLANTATIONS.  41' 

The  town  of  Akala,  perhaps  from  its  excellent  situ- 
ation for  water  mills,  is  almost  wholly  inhabited  by 
bakers,  who  send  their  bread  to  Seville.  At  almost 
every  door  we  saw  the  women  sitting  picking  from 
the  wheat  the  small  stones,  and  other  impurities,  which 
it  collects  from  their  rude  mode  of  thrashing. 

The  Marquis  had  left  his  country  house  about  an 
hour  before  our  arrival,  but  we  found  a  very  intelligent 
peasant,  who  had  the  management  of  it  in  his  ab- 
sence, andwho  answered  my  questions  with  great  rea- 
diness and  intelligence.  There  are  200  aranzadas  un- 
der olives,  which  have  this  year  suffered  much  from 
the  rain.  When  rain  falls  in  August,  as  was  the  case 
this  year,  the  olives  always  suffer  from  it.  He  esti- 
the  present  crop  at  about  2,000  fanegas  of 
olives,  which  will  yield  about  1,500  arrobas  of  oil ; 
but  in  a  very  favourable  year  the  plantation  will 
yield  5,000  fanegas  of  olives,  or  about  3,750  ar- 
robas of  oil.  All  the  ground  we  saw  was  a  very 
light  sandy  loam.  It  is  ploughed  once  a  year.  They 
plough  an  aranzada  of  the  olive  ground  in  a  day,  but 
not  more  than  half  that  quantity  of  the  meadow  or 
corn  land  below.  There  are  five  kinds  of  olives  on 
the  estate  :  one  of  them,  the  La  Reyna,  is  of  a  very 
large  size,  and  is  pickled  for  eating.  The  tree  of  this 
variety  produces  but  little  fruit,  and  the  fruit  when 
pressed  yields  very  little  oil,  but  it  is  very  highly 
prized  for  eating,  being  as  large  as  a  good  sized 
plum. 

The  mill  for  grinding,  or  crushing  the  olives,  con- 
sisted of  a  large  circular  stone,  sloping  inwards  to  the 
centre,  where  a  sufficient  space  was  left  leve"!  for  a 
millstone  of  seven  feet  in  diameter,  and  14  inches  in 
thickness,  to  turn  upon  its  edge.  An  upright  beam, 
fixed  to  the  centre  of  the  millstone,  and  turning  on  a 
pivot,  gave  it  motion.  After  having  been  brought 
home,  the  olives  lie  in  a  heap,  on  an  average  about 
1 5  days  before  they  are  crushed.  After  having  been 
crushed,  they  are  put  into  the  press,  and  it  is  the 
common  practice  to  pour  hot  water  upon  them,  in  or- 
4* 


42  ENVIRONS  OF  SEVILLE. 

der  to  extract  the  oil.  They  are  pressed  thrice,  and1 
each  time  with  the  addition  of  boiling  water,  there 
being  a  large  boiler  built  into  a  furnace  to  supply  the 
water.  The  fluid  runs  from  the  press  to  a  cistern, 
and,  when  it  is  filled,  the  oil  flows  over  the  top,  leaving 
the  water  below,  which  is  cleared  away,  as  neces- 
sary. The  peasant  said,  that  all  the  difference  be- 
tween the  fine  and  common  oil  was,  that  the  former 
was  the  virgin  juice,  drawn  off  with  cold  water,  and 
not  mixed  with  the  second  and  third  pressings.  The 
press  in  this  cellar  was  of  the  same  construction  as 
those  at  the  convent ;  it  was  20  paces  in  length,  14 
of  which  were  on  the  long  arm  of  the  beam,  and  6 
at  the  short  or  press  end.  It  must,  from  its  thickness, 
contain  many  Ions  of  timber.  The  oil  is  kept  in  large 
jars,  some  of  which  were  built  into  a  projecting  part  of 
the  wall,  and  were  sufficiently  capacious  to  contain 
100  gallons  each.  The  fine  oil  produced  by  the  Mar- 
quis is  not  relished  by  his  countrymen ;  they  say  it 
has  no  taste,  and  prefer  the  rancid  oil  which  they  have 
been  accustomed  to  use. 

The  trees  on  this  property  are  reckoned  very  young 
for  olives,  although  they  are  sixty  years  old.  They 
are  pruned  every  year.  A  man  will  prune  half  an 
aranzada  in  a  day.  But  olive  trees  are  said  not  to 
require  pruning  at  all,  till  they  are  25  or  30  years  old. 
Two  hundred  aranzadas  are  equal  to  191  English 
acres,  and  3,000  arrobas  of  oil,  the  average  annual  pro- 
duce, are  equal  to  12,735  English  gallons,  old  mea- 
sure, about  63|  gallons  per  English  acre. 

I  do  not  know,  however,  whether  there  was  not 
included  in  this  estimate  40  aranzadas  that  are  entire- 
ly planted  with  the  La  Reyna,  which  are  never  press- 
ed for  oil.  Even  with  this  deduction  the  produce  would 
fall  very  far  short  of  what  the  trees  of  the  Hierono- 
mites  were  said  to  produce;  namely,  from  three 
to  four  fanegas  of  olives  each  tree,  each  fanega 
yielding  an  arroba  of  oil.  An  English  acre  will  con- 
tain 60  trees,  27  feet  apart,  which  is  about  the  dis- 
tance they  were  placed  from  each  other  on  the  Mar- 


ORAXGE  GBOVES.  43 

quis's  plantations ;  and,  indeed,  60  was  said  by  the 
peasant  to  be  the  number  on  each  aranzada.  One 
hundred  and  fifty-three  acres,  bearing  60  trees  each, 
will  contain  9,180  trees,  and  the  produce  being  3,000 
arrobas,  it  is  scarcely  one  third  of  an  arroba  for  each 
tree. 

This  comes  nearer  to  Don  Jacobo  Gordon's  state- 
ment, that  from  l£  to  l£  arroba  is  reckoned  a  good  re- 
turn from  each  tree.  The  trees  of  the  Hieronomites, 
as  well,  indeed,  as  the  most  of  those  I  saw  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Xeres,  were  planted  on  a  richer 
soil,  and  were  of  much  larger  dimensions ;  but  this 
could  never  cause  such  a  difference  as  to  reconcile 
the  different  statements. 

The  principal  exports  from  Seville  are  bitter  and 
sweet  oranges,  and  lemons.     The  sweet  oranges  are 
more  cultivated  than  the  bitter.     I  visited  several 
plantations ;  one  belonging  to  Mr.  Wetherall,  the  mer- 
chant to  whom  I  had  brought  an  introduction.     The 
plants  are  all  raised  from  pips  of  the  bitter  orange, 
and  when  the  stocks  are  four  years  old  they  bud  them 
with  two  or  three  eyes  of  the  sweet  orange.     The 
orange  groves  are  reckoned  of  great  value.     The 
trees  are  planted  at  the  distance  of  21  or  22  feet  each 
way,  and,  in  good  years,  will  yield  from  1,000  to  1,200, 
or  even  1,500  oranges  each.  They  are  irrigated  every 
ten  days,  and  the  soil  is  diposed  in  small  trenches  to  al- 
low the  water  to  spread.  This  plantation  was  watered 
by  means  of  a  steam  engine,  which  was  erected  in  a 
neighbouring  tan  yard.     Seville  also  exports  wool  and 
oil ;  but  very  little  wool  has  been  exported  this  sea- 
son, in  consequence  of  an  expectation  that  Saxony 
wools  would  be  excluded  from  the  ports  of  England 
on  account  of  the  cholera  morbus.     Prices  have  risen 
so  largely,  on  this  account,  that  the  merchants  cannot 
execute  the  orders  of  their   correspondents.      The 
wools  shipped  from  Seville  are  those  of  Estremadura, 
and  are  of  inferior  quality.     The  chief  shipments  of 
the  Segovian  and  Leonesian  fleeces  are  made  from 
Bilboa.    I  believe  no  person  in  New  South  Wales 


44  JOURNEY  FROM  SEVILLE. 

was  aware,  at  the  time  the  prices  of  their  wools  sunk 
more  than  50  per  cent,  in  the  English  market,  (4  or  5 
years  ago,)  that  the  Spanish  government  had  repealed 
an  export  duty  of  two  rials  (10  cents)  on  the  wools  of 
Estremadura,  and  three  rials  (15  cents)  on  those  of 
Segovia  and  Leonesia :  and  thus  enabled  wools  to  be 
exported  to  a  vast  extent,  which  would  never  other- 
wise have  reached  the  English  market.  About  50 
vessels,  of  from  80  to  120  tons  burthen,  are  annually 
loaded  with  oranges  and  lemons  at  Seville.  The  chief 
plantations  are  at  some  distance  from  the  town.  It 
appears  to  be  a  fruit  not  much  used  by  the  inhabitants 
themselves.  There  was  scarcely  an  orange  tree  to 
be  seen  in  private  gardens,  or  in  any  of  the  small  vil- 
lages round  Seville.  At  the  present  season  they  are 
gathering  the  Grenadilla,  or  pomegranate,  which  is 
very  abundant ;  and  this,  with  melons,  and  bread,  and 
olives,  seems  to  constitute,  at  this  season,  the  prin- 
cipal fare  of  the  common  people  at  all  times  of  the 
day. 

Wednesday,  Wth  October. — On  Thursday  morning 
last  I  joined  the  caravan  of  the  ordinario,  which,  on  its 
starting,  consisted  of  six  wagons,  besides  a  covered 
cart  with  stuffed  seats  and  backs,  called  a  tertana,  in 
which  were  three  friars  and  myself.  A  number  of 
persons,  on  asses  and  on  foot,  also  accompanied  us, 
but  these  gradually  dropped  off  as  we  proceeded.  It 
took  six  days,  including  a  day  spent  at  the  town  of 
Antequera,  to  accomplish  the  journey  to  Malaga,  a 
distance  of  130  miles.  About  eight  miles  before  reach- 
ing the  former  town,  a  party  of  horsemen  came  in 
sight,  to  the  evident  consternation  of  every  one.  It 
was  said  they  belonged  to  the  party  of  Jose  Maria,  a 
famous  brigand,  who  has  35  men  well  mounted  and 
equipped,  and  levies  contributions  on  all  the  roads 
throughout  the  province.  They  did  not,  however,  ap- 
proach nearer  than  half  a  mile  ;  and  one  of  the  mule- 
teers having  gone  off  to  them,  returned  in  three  quar- 
ters of  an  hour,  and  said  they  were  not  robbers,  but 
soldiers.  Two  miles  farther  on,  however,  we  stopped 


JOUNEY  FROM  SEVILLE.  45 

at  a  house  where  we  were  told  it  was  customary  to 
make  a  contribution  to  guarantee  travellers  against 
robbers ;  and  14  dollars  having  been  collected,  we 
saw  no  more  of  the  party  which  caused  such  alarm. 

With  little  exception,  the  whole  tract  of  country 
from  Seville  to  Antequera  is  of  the  richest  possible  de- 
scription, but  in  the  most  wretched  state  of  cultiva- 
tion. There  are  no  enclosures  save  here  and  there  a 
vineyard ;  and  such  is  the  state  of  personal  insecurity, 
that  no  farmer  or  proprietor  ventures  to  live  on  his  land. 
The  inhabitants  are  congregated  in  the  towns  or  in 
miserable  villages,  and  only  visit  the  distant  fields  to 
give  them  the  least  possible  culture,  and  to  gather  in 
the  harvest  when  ripe.  This  being  a  cross-road,  the 
inns  were  of  the  meanest  description ;  and  the  fare, 
which  was  undoubtedly  superior  to  the  daily  fare 
even  of  those  above  the  rank  of  a  peasant,  was  such 
as  to  indicate  the  greatest  poverty.  I  did  not  see  100 
head  of  cattle,  or  twice  as  many  sheep,  during  the  whole 
journey  ;  and  only  once  was  butcher's  meat  set  upon 
the  table.  My  companions  seemed  to  consider  them- 
selveer  foriiumte  whoa  the  bill  of  fare  included  a  stew- 
ed rabbit  or  hare ;  and  this  was  in  a  country  rich 
enough  to  support  ten  times  its  population,  in  the  great- 
est abundance.  From  Antequera  to  Malaga,  about 
22  miles,  the  character  of  the  country  was  totally  dif- 
ferent. Instead  of  the  rich  and  extensive  plains, 
bounded  by  gently  rising  hills  covered  with  the  olive, 
the  road  here  wound  through  a  continuation  of  steep 
rocks  and  hills,  in  many  places  approaching  in  cha- 
racter to  mountains.  But  here  the  hand  of  industry 
had  been  at  work,  and,  instead  of  a  track  formed  by 
the  successive  marks  of  wheels,  there  was  a  road  cut 
out  of  the  sides  of  the  hills,  and  winding  through  them 
with  considerable  art.  Here  and  there  also,  where  a 
favourable  spot  was  presented,  a  peasant  had  estab- 
lished himself;  and  the  plantations  of  vines  and  olives, 
with  which  his  industry  had  surrounded  his  habita- 
tion, had  given  to  the  narrow  valleys,  and  steep  decli- 
vities of  the  mountains,  an  appearance  of  cultivation 


46  ENIRONS  OF  MALAGA. 

and  fertility  that  might  be  looked  for  in  vain  in  the 
wide-spreading  and  rich  valleys  through  which  we 
had  previously  passed.  As  we  approached  Malaga 
these  plantations  became  frequent,  although  the  coun- 
try only  presents  a  succession  of  steep  hills ;  the  soil 
a  loose  brown  loam,  plentifully  mixed  with  the  gravel 
of  the  strata  beneath,  which  is  a  blue  or  gray  shale  or 
schistus,  turning  brown  and  falling  to  pieces  on  ex- 
posure to  the  atmosphere.  In  many  places,  as  ap- 
peared at  the  sides  of  the  road,  there  were  five  or  six 
feet  in  depth  of  this  loose  soil,  before  it  came  upon  the 
more  solid  material.  It  was  evident  the  vines  had  been 
planted  without  the  ground  having  undergone  any 
previous  preparation ;  and  no  provision  was  made, 
even  in  the  steepest  places,  to  prevent  the  soil  from 
being  washed  away.  The  vines,  in  general,  seemed 
to  be  treated  in  a  very  slovenly  manner ;  the  stock 
was  close  to  the  ground,  and  numerous  weak  shoots 
were  springing  out  in  every  direction. 

It  was  seven  in  the  evening  when  we  entered  Mala- 
g-i,  having  been  travelling  from  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  at  which  ilm«  wo  start^-1  by  torch  light. 
During  the  whole  of  this  time  the  mules  had  no  food, 
and  only  one  hour's  rest,  which  was  afforded  them  by 
the  overturning  of  a  wagon,  and  yet  they  came  into 
Malaga  without  any  symptoms  of  fatigue. 

After  enjoying  a  comfortable  night's  rest,  I  pro- 
ceeded to  deliver  my  letters  of  introduction.  One  of 
these  was  to  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  the  Hanoverian  con- 
sul, a  Scotchman  by  birth,  who  had  resided  40  years 
in  Spain,  and  whose  kindness  to  travellers  is  prover- 
bial. I  found  that  the  season  for  preserving  raisins 
had  been  over  for  some  time ;  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  how- 
ever, lost  no  time  in  ascertaining  what  information 
could  yet  be  procured. 

Friday,  2\st  October. — At  day-break  this  morning, 
a  gentleman,  whom  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  requested  to 
show  me  his  vineyard,  and  explain  the  process  of 
preserving  the  grapes,  waited  upon  me,  and  we  set  out 
immediately.  Our  road  lay  along  the  shore,  to  the 


MUSCATEL  RAISINS.  47 

eastward,  the  vineyard  of  Don  Salvador  Solier  lying 
in  that  direction,  at  the  distance  of  about  14  miles.  ' 
In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Malaga  the  country  is  ex- 
tremely rugged,  but  every  patch  where  it  was  possi- 
ble to  thrust  in  a  plant  was  under  cultivation.  The 
rocks  consisted  of  rugged  masses  of  limestone,  alter- 
nating with  the  same  kind  of  slaty  sciiist  I  had  pre- 
viously observed  on  the  road  from  Antequera.  For 
the  first  two  leagues  there  were  few  vineyards,  chief- 
ly owing  to  the  ruggedness  of  the  country,  which 
would  not  admit  of  cultivation.  Beyond  that  distance 
almost  every  hill  was  covered  with  vines,  the  produce 
of  which  is  all  converted  into  raisins.  The  grapes  are 
all  of  the  large  white  Muscatel — the  Muscatel  Gordo 
of  Roxas  Clemente.  This  grape,  my  companion  in- 
formed me,  does  not  succeed  in  the  interior,  and  there- 
fore all  the  Muscatel  resins  are  made  within  two 
leagues  of  the  coast,  ifte  Lexia  raisins,  which  are 
used  for  puddings,  &c.,  are  made  in  the  interior.  We 
arrived  at  the  country  house  of  Don  Salvador  at  nine 
o'clock,  and,  after  a  substantial  breakfast,  sallied  out 
to  examine  the  vines.  Six  or  seven  workmen  were 
employed  in  preparing  the  ground  for  planting,  with- 
in a  short  distance  of  the  house.  They  did  not  trench 
the  whole  of  the  ground,  but  dug  out  square  holes 
about  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  not  more  than  20 
inches  in  depth.  The  distance  of  the  centres  of 
these  holes  from  each  other  is  seven  feet,  and  this  is 
the  distance  at  which  the  vines  on  the  hills  round  Ma- 
laga seem  invariably  to  be  planted.  The  vineyard  I 
was  examining,  as  well  as  all  those  in  its  vicinity,  con- 
sisted of  a  series  of  steep  hills.  The  soil  every- 
where was  a  decomposed  slate,  mixed  with  abundance 
of  gravel  of  the  same  substance.  On  the  higher 
part  of  the  ground  this  soil  appeared  rather  hard,  and 
required  great  labour  to  break  it  up,  but  once  broken 
up  it  is  loose  for  ever ;  so  much  so,  that  it  slides  awray 
from  under  the  feet  even  where  there  is  only  a  slight 
slope.  There  is  no  difference  made  in  the  distance  at 
which  the  vines  are  planted,  between  the  hills  and  the 


48  ENVIRONS   OF   MALAGA. 

valleys :  although  in  many  places,  on  the  former,  the 
shoots  scarcely  extend  more  than  10  or  12  inches, 
while  in  the  valleys  they  extend  to  the  length  of  as 
many  feet.  They  never,  under  any  circumstances, 
manure  these  vineyards ;  they  say  it  would  give  more 
wood,  but  would  not  add  to  the  quantity  of  the  fruit. 
The  branches  are  pruned  closer  to  the  stock  than 
those  of  any  vines  I  ever  saw  ;  nothing  but  the  half- 
formed  buds,  at  the  junction  of  the  old  and  new  wood, 
being  left  to  produce  the  wood  of  the  succeeding  year. 
I  could  not  find  an  instance  where  the  spur  had  been 
left  long  enough  to  include  the  first  full-formed  bud, 
which  is  generally  from  half  an  inch  to  an  inch  from 
the  junction.  The  number  of  shoots  seemed  almost 
unlimited  ;  I  counted  from  10  to  22 ;  there  was  scarce- 
ly any  vine  had  fewer  than  10,  and  they  generally  had 
from  12  to  15.  The  stock  was  close  to  the  ground, 
and  not  the  slightest  effort  made  to  raise  the  shoots,  or 
support  them  from  the  ground.  Almost  every  bunch 
would  therefore  lie  on  the  ground  ;  and,  were  the  soil 
of  a  less  gravelly  description,  the  greater  part  would 
without  doubt  be  lost.  After  the  pruning,  they  dig 
over  the  ground  and  lay  bare  the  stock,  in  order  to 
scrape  off  the  barbe,  or  small  thread-like  roots  which 
are  near  the  surface.  As  scarcely  any  grass  or  herb 
vegetates  among  these  vines,  and  the  soil  is  always 
sufficiently  loose,  it  is  evident  that  they  require  lit- 
tle digging  or  cleaning.  We  went  out  to  visit  a 
peasant,  a  neighbour  of  Don  Salvador's.  He  said  four 
or  five  very  fine  vines  might  yield  raisins  enough  to 
fill  a  box  which  contains  an  arroba  of  25  Ibs. ;  but 
throughout  the  country  it  would  require,  on  an  aver- 
age, nine  or  ten.  The  grapes  lose  about  two  thirds 
of  their  weight  in  drying :  this  would,  therefore,  give 
a  produce  of  7  or  8  Ibs.  of  grapes  to  each  vine — a  cal- 
culation which  I  should  think  must  include  a  much 
greater  proportion  of  stinted  vines  than  of  luxuriant 
ones ;  for  the  majority  of  those  in  Don  Salvador's 
vineyard  would,  1  have  no  doubt,  yield  double  that 
quantity.  Including,  however,  those  vines  which  are 


MUSCATEL    RAISINS.  49 

xrisible  at  the  tops  even  of  the  highest  hills,  the  calcula- 
tion is  likely  enough  to  be  correct.  The  peasant 
whom  we  visited  was  making  wine  from  some  of  his 
grapes,  which,  after  having  been  nearly  dried,  were 
spoiled  by  the  rain.  In  a  small  skilling,  behind  the 
cottage,  a  portion  of  the  floor,  about  ten  feet  square, 
was  elevated  above  the  rest.  It  was  paved  with  tiles, 
and  a  man  was  busy  trampling  the  raisins,  which  he 
had  almost  reduced  to  a  paste.  He  heaped  them  into 
a  corner  as  he  successively  passed  them  under  his 
feet  for  the  press,  which  was  merely  a  large  beam 
passing  along  the  skilling,  without  any  screw,  or  any 
other  means  of  giving  it  additional  power  as  a  lever. 
A  little  water  was  added  to  the  grapes  to  bring  out  the 
juice,  and  a  part  of  the  must  was  on  the  fire  boiling,  to 
add  to  its  strength.  We  tasted  some  wine  made  two 
months  before  from  the  Pedro  Ximenes  grape,  and  also 
some  from  that  grape  mixed  with  the  Muscatel ;  both 
were  as  sweet  and  luscious  as  possible.  The  grapes, 
when  dried,  are  worth  double  what  they  would  yield 
made  into  wine,  and  therefore  they  are  never  made 
into  wine  unless  spoiled  by  the  rain. 

They  usually  commence  gathering  the  grapes  about 
the  middle  of  August,  choosing  only  such  bunches  as 
are  ripe.  They  return,  after  a  week  or  two,  to  make 
another  selection,  and  so  on  for  a  third  and  fourth 
time.  A  place  is  always  reserved  in  the  vineyard, 
free  from  plants,  on  which  to  spread  the  grapes  when 
gathered ;  and  they  choose  a  spot  where  the  soil  is  of 
the  darkest  colour, in  orderto  its  keeping  the  full  force  of 
the  sun's  rays  during  the  day,  and  retaining  the  heat 
during  the  night.  The  bunches  are  spread  out  sepa- 
rately on  the  ground,  and  never  allowed  to  press  upon 
each  other : — according  to  Don  Salvador  they  are 
only  once  turned  over.  At  the  end  of  15  days  they 
are,  in  general,  sufficiently  dry.  This  season  was 
more  unfortunate  for  the  early  commencement  of  the 
rains  than  any  season  for  many  years,  and  the  crop 
was  remarkably  fine.  It  is  Don  Salvador's  intention, 
in  future  years,  to  have  wooden  toldos,  or  awnings, 
5 


50  ENVIRONS  OF  MALAGA,, 


prepared  to  shelter  the  grapes,  while  drying,  againsi 
the  rains,  and  also  to  cover  them  duri;  ht.     He 

says  that  the  drying  of  the  gnij«  'ich  retarded 

by  their  being  exposed  to  the  dews  daring  the  night, 
that  when  he  has  the  means  of  cover i  at  night, 

expects  they  will  be  dried  in  half  the  time  usual  at 
present.  Before  the  bunches  are  spread  out,  the  small 
f~ijf  grapes  are  picked  out,  as  well  as  any  which  may  hap- 
pen to  be  injured ;  the  small  grapes  are  dried  sepa- 
rately. I  saw  a  heap  of  them  in  Don  Salvador's 
house,  which  had  the  appearance  of  very  large  cur- 
rants. When  the  grapes  are  turned,  any  spoiled  ones 
are,  or  ought  to  be,  picked  out ;  they  have  no  particu- 
lar rule  for  judging  when  they  are  sufficiently  dry, — 
it  is  learnt  by  experience.  When  they  happen  to  get 
-\{fa  rain  while  drying,  the  stalks  become  black  or  rusty- 
="!*<•***  looking,  instead  of  being  of  a  bright  light  brown. 
Jfc^L  According  to  Don  Salvador,  the  district  which  pro- 
duces the  Muscatel  grape  extends  only  two  leagues 
farther  east ;  that  is,  not  more  than  three  leagues  in 
all,  along  the  coast,  and  two  leagues  inwards.  He 
says  the  value  of  the  land  planted  with  it  is  about 
3,000  rials,  or  150  Spanish  dollars  per  fanega.  There 
L  4>t*ttJ8  a  piece  of  land,  adjoining  their  own,  which  they  are 
yA,  ,.,..•  anxious  to  buy;  they  would  give  for  it  1,500  rials  per 
fanega — to  plant  it  with  vines  would  cost  500  rials 
more,  and  there  would  be  no  return  forthn 
EachjfanegY?,  he  says,  contains  050  stocks,  and  as  each 
stock  is  seven  feet  apart  from  its  neighbours,  the  num- 
ber of  square  feet  in  ^func^a  will  be  31,850,  which  is 
2  roods  37  perches  English  measure.  It  required,  he 
said,  ten  men  for  a  day  to  hole  a  f(ni"!?a  for  the1  plan- 
tation. If,  therefore,  10  stocks  give  25  Ihs.  of  rai 
a  fanega  will  give  1,025  Ibs.,  or  05  arrohas  or  boxes 
of  25  Ibs.  each  ;  which  would  be,  for  an  English  acre. 
2,222  Ibs.  Don  Salvador  pays  his  workmen  3^  rials, 
about  17^  cts.  a  day,  besides  food.  The  food  consists  of, 
in  the  morning,  a  soup  of  lentils,  &c. ;  at  dinner,  pork  ; 
and,  at  supper,  the  aspachio,  or  cold  soup,  formerly 


MUSCATEL    RAISINS.  51 

ribed,  bread  and  grapes  at  discretion.     The  whole 
costs  about  5|-  rials,  or  26  cents  a  day. 

Saturday,  22nd  October. — Having  read  over  to  Mr. 
Kirkpatrick  my  notes  of  yesterday's  excursion,  he 
said  that  Don  Salvador's  information  was  generally 
correct,  but  added  the  following  observations : — The 
Muscatel  grape,  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  thinks,  must  be  cul- 
tivated as  much  as  four  leagues  from  the  coast,  but 
will  not  succeed  beyond  that  distance.  The  extent  of 
coast  which  admits  of  its  cultivation  must  also  be  five 
or  six  leagues,  at  least,  at  the  principal  cultivation  is  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Velez  Malaga,  five  leagues  to  the 
eastward  of  Malaga. — There  are  three  distinct  sorts  of 
raisins: — 1st,  the  Muscatel,  which  are  the  finest,  and 
are  always  packed  in  boxes  of  25  Ibs.,  and  half  and 
quarter  boxes,  containing,  respectively,  the  half  and 
quarter  of  that  quantity. — 2dly,  Sun  or  Bloom  raisins : 
these  are  prepared  in  a  manner  in  every  respect  simi- 
lar to  the  Muscatel,  but  from  a  different  grape  ;  a  very 
long  grape,  called  in  the  country  Uva  Larga.  These  are 
also  generally  packed  in  boxes,  but  sometimes  in  casks. 
Those  in  boxes  are  also  called  bunch  raisins;  the 
others  are  generally  of  an  inferior  quality,  and  sepa- 
rate from  the  stalks.  1  he  Sun  or  Bloom  raisins  keep 
better  than  the  Muscatel,  and  for  that  reason,  it 
is  this  description  which  is  usually  sent  to  India. 
3dly,  the  Lexia  raisins,  which  are  packed  in  casks, 
or  grass  mats  called  frails.  These  raisins  are  of 
an  inferior  kind,  and  require  to  be  dipped  in  a  lye 
(Lexia)  of  wood  ashes,  with  a  little  oil,  before  drying. 

Muscatel  raisins  are  worth  to  the  grower,  from  30 
to  40  rials  a  box,  according  to  the  season.  This  year 
as  much  as  52  rials  was  given  for  some  that,  with  the 
aid  of  toldos,  had  been  preserved  without  having  been 
touched  by  the  rain.  When  Muscatels  are  40  rials, 
or  2  dollars  a  box  of  25  Ibs.,  Blooms  are  about  30  rials, 
and  Lexia  only  from  24  to  28  rials  per  quintal  of 
100  Ibs.  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  says,  that  12  English  acres 
make  13  fanegas.  According  to  this  calculation,  an 
acre  will  produce,  at  2|-  Ibs.  to  each  stock,  1,760  Ibs. ; 


52  MUSCATEL  RAISINS. 

which,  at  40  rials  the  box,  or  4d.  (8  cents)  a  pound,  are 
worth  £29  7s.,  ($140,)  at  30  rials  £22,  ($104  50) 
an  acre.  From  this  must,  however,  be  deducted  the 
expense  of  70  boxes,  at  4  rials  each,  which  amounts  to 
£2  17s.  6d.  Still,  it  seems  a  most  profitable  cultiva- 
tion ;  so  much  so,  that  I  incline  to  think  the  quantity 
is  less  than  that  estimated.  The  expenses  of  cultiva- 
ation  cannot  exceed  £5  or  £6  ($24  to  $29)  an  acre. 
The  following  accounts  of  the  exportation  of  fruits 
from  Malaga  were  taken  from  detailed  statements 
which  had  been  copied  froifi  the  custom  house  cockets,, 
and  were  kept  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  : 


FIUUT   TUADE. 


53 


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•T  —  _C5  P5  =>  tr  O  •*. 
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£     —  bo  •  M      • 

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5* 


54  FRUIT  TRADE. 

The  boxes  are  partly  Bloom  or  Sun  raisins,  but 
principally  Muscatel.  The  barrels  and  frails  are 
chiefly  Lexias. 

In  the  spring,  shipments  are  made  for  the  Baltic, 
and  small  parcels  are  sent,  at  all  times,  in  assorted 
cargoes.  On  the  whole,  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  is  of  opinion, 
that  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  may  be  added  to  the  ship- 
ments of  the  fruit  season,  to  make  up  the  whole  export 
from  Malaga.  This  would  make  the  whole  weight  of 
raisins  annually  exported  from  Malaga  from  4,000  to 
4,500  tons.  The  almonds  shipped  from  Malaga  are 
of  the  kind  called  Jordan ;  and  these,  as  well  as  the 
Muscatel  raisin,  will  only  grow  in  a  very  limited  dis- 
trict. Mr  Kirkpatrick  has  this  day  about  100  women 
shelling  almonds  in  his  yard.  This  costs  three  rials  a 
fanega,  which  yields  from  20  to  22  Ibs.  of  shelled  al- 
monds. A  fanega  is  the  produce  of  about  four  trees. 
The  grower  gets  from  three  to  four  dollars  for  a  fane- 
ga. The  women  break  each  almond  separately,  lay- 
ing it  on  a  small  anvil,  and  striking  it  with  a  small 
iron  rod  ;  others  pick  them  out  from  the  shells  on  a 
table.  The  confectioners  purchase  the  shells  for  their 
fires,  and  they  almost  pay  the  expense  of  shelling. 
Such  is  the  superior  value  of  the  Jordan  almond,  that 
the  duty  upon  them  in  England  is  £4  15s.  per  cwt., 
which  is  double  that  upon  the  common  sorts.  The 
Jordan  almond  is  distinguished  in  appearance  from 
the  common,  or  Valencia  almond,  by  its  greater 
length. 

Monday,  24th  October. — I  this  day  visited  the  stores 
of  Messrs.  Rein  and  Company,  the  first'mercantile 
house  in  Malaga.  They  were  receiving,  in  one  store, 
Lexia  raisins  from  the  country.  The  grower,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  season,  got  ten  rials  the  arroba,  of  25 
Ibs. ;  the  price  is  now  only  seven.  The  quality  this 
season  is  very  bad ;  many  of  the  raisins  appeared 
bruised  and  burst  by  the  rain.  Ten  rials  the 
arroba  amounts  to  two  dollars  per  quintal  of  100 
pounds — one  penny  per  pound.  A  peasant,  \\lio  had 
come  with  the  1'rnit,  said  they  would  get  from  ten 


, 


FRUIT  TRADE.  55 

to  twelve  quintals  from  a  fanega.  The  persons  in  the 
office  seemed  to  think,  that,  either  from  ignorance  or 
intention,  he  understated  the  quantity.  This  would 
only  be  twenty  two  dollars  for  a  fanega. 

Mr.  Delius,  the  clerk  of  the  fruit  department,  said, 
he  thought  the  estimate  of  1,625  pounds  of  Muscatels 
from  a  fanega,  was  likely  to  be  correct.  They  usually, 
he  said,  expected  60  arrobas — that  is,  1 ,500  pounds,  in 
a  good  season ;  from  50  to  GO  arrobas  was  the  average. 
In  the  neighbourhood  of  Messrs.  Rein's  stores  they 
were  packing  lemons.  The  grower  gets  seven  dollars 
for  a  case  containing  1,000 : — the  largest  are  sent  to 
England.  They  are  each  put  into  a  piece  of  paper  by 
women,  who  get  through  the  work  very  rapidly  ;  they 
are  employed  by  the  day,  and  get  five  rials,  about  one 
shilling,  for  their  work.  The  green  grapes  sent  to 
England  are  packed  in  oak  saw-dust,  which  is  import- 
ed from  Enghfnd  for  that  purpose  ;  no  other  kind  will 
answer.  It  is  a  coarse  fleshy  grape  called  Loja, 
from  the  place  where  it  is  cultivated ;  it  keeps  till 
April  and  May.  There  is  a  large  black  grape  very 
abundant  in  the  markets  at  present,  and  also  a  large 
green  grape,  neither  of  which  is  distinguished  for  fla- 
vour ;  they  are  sold  at  four  quartos,  about  one  penny, 
a  pound. 

The  house  of  Rein  and  Company  have  extensive 
sugar  plantations  at  Almunecar,  about  30  or  40 
miles  cast  of  Malaga.  I  had  determined  to  ac- 
company Mr.  Delius,  a  member  of  the  house,  to 
visit  these  plantations,  in  which  I  felt  a  great 
degree  of  interest,  as  I  was  confidant,  that  if  su- 
gar could  be  cultivated  here,  it  o'.:;-!it  to  succeed 
at  Port  Macquerie.  An  opportunity  .  f  a  vessel  for 
Marseilles  having,  however,  presented  itself  in  the 
mean  time,  I  resolved  on  taking  my  passage  by 
her.  I  procured  fr  ;:n  Mr.  Delius  the  following  in- 
formation the  sugar  plantations.  Sugar 
has  been  cultivated  in  this  part  of  Spain  for  nearly  100 
years,  but  never  to  any  very  great  extent.  The  plan- 
tations at  present  are  more  extensive  than  they  have 


60  SUGAR  PLANTATIONS. 

ever  been  before.  The  whole  produce  does  not,  how- 
ever, exceed  20,000  quintals,  of  which  5,000  are  pro- 
duced by  their  house  ;  20,000  quintals,  of  100  pounds 
each,  are  894  tons.  Rein  and  Company's  own  plan- 
tations are  not  very  extensive,  but  they  have  erected  a 
mill  and  distillery.  They  receive  from  the  planters 
the  cane,  and  return  them  one  half  of  the  manu- 
factured article.  Four  or  five  kinds  of  cane  have 
been  cultivated,  but  they  are  now  confining  their 
attention  to  the  large  Otaheite  cane,  finding  it  succeed 
better,  and  yield  a  better  return.  The  soil  is  in  ge- 
neral of  a  loose  sandy  quality,  but  very  rich,  and  is 
also  richly  manured. 

The  planting  takes  place  in  May,  and  the  canes  are 
cut  in  February  following.     The  same  stools  will  last 
for  six  years.     They  are  cut  down  to  10  inches  from 
the  surface.     Six  plants  are  put  into  one  hole,  and  the 
holes  are  not  more  than  three  feet  apart,  so  that  it  is 
impossible  to  enter  the   plantation  after  the  canes 
have  got  to  a  certain  height.     The  ground  is  cultiva- 
ted by  ploughs  with  oxen,  but  of  course  only  when 
the  canes  are  very  young,  or  in  the  early  part  of  the 
season.     The  cane  grows  to  the  thickness  of  a  man's 
arm,  and  from    18   to  20  feet  high.     Mr.  Delius  has 
seen  fifteen  feet  of  ripe  cane.     A  fanega  of  rich  land 
will  yield  from  45  to  50  quintals,  that  is,   from  4,500 
to  5,000  pounds  of  sugar.     They  have  a  refinery  on 
the  spot.     This  year  their  sugar  brought  10  per  cent, 
higher  than  imported  sugar  ;  and  their  rum  promises, 
when   old,  to   be  equal  to  that  of  the  West   Indies. 
It  is  now  two  years  old ;  but  as  they  consider  that  the 
rum  hitherto  made  has  failed  to  come  into  use,  from 
having  been  sold  to  the  consumer  too  early,  they  in- 
tend to  hold  it  for  two  years  longer.     The  frost  some- 
times injures  the  sugar  cane  a  little,  but  frost  seldom 
occurs.     Twice  during  '^0  years  Mr.  Delius  has  ob- 
served it  of  the  thickness  of  a  dollar  in  the  night.  The 
ordinary  range  of  the  thermometer,  during  the  day, 
in  the  winter  months,   is  50  to  58 ;  in  May  and  June, 
72  to  75 ;  in  July  and  August,  78  to  82  or  83,  except 


OLD  MOUNTAIN  WIXES.  57 

when,  once  or  twice  during  the  season,  it  blows  over 
the  land,  when  it  rises  to  100.  The  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere  along  the  coast  is  exceedingly  equa- 
ble. During  20  years  Mr.  Delius  never  observed  the 
barometer  vary  more  than  an  inch ;  its  range  is  be- 
between  29|-  and  30|.  The  sugar  cane  will  not  grow 
except  within  five  miles  of  the  coast.  Beyond  that 
distance  the  frost  is  greater,  and  the  weather  more 
unsettled.  The  land  planted  with  sugar  cane  is  irri- 
gated twice  or  thrice  when  the  shoots  are  very  young, 
but  Mr.  Delius  thinks  not  afterwards.  All  the  plan- 
tations command  the  means  of  irrigation. 

With  reference  to  the  value  of  vineyards,  a  friend 
of  Mr.  Kirkpatrick's  gave  me  the  following  informa- 
tion :  He  purchased  an  estate  five  years  ago.  It  is 
situated  about  two  leagues  from  Malaga,  and  is  all 
mountain.  Vineyards  are  valued  by  the  number  of 
stocks.  An  abrado  contains  1,000  stocks ;  this,  at  se- 
ven feet  distance,  gives  180  perches,  or  one  acre  and 
20  perches,  as  the  extent  of  an  abrado.  In  this  estate 
there  were  80  abrados,  or  90  acres,  planted  with 
vines,  which  were  in  very  bad  order.  Also  about 
150  acres  more,  which  were  not  planted,  and  were 
considered  of  very  little  value.  The  price  was  5,000 
dollars,about  £1,059,  nearly  £12  an  acre  for  the  vines, 
counting  the  remainder  as  nothing.  The  produce 
was  very  little  the  first  four  years ;  last  year  600  ar- 
robas, this  year  1,000,  and  if  the  next  season  be  favour- 
able, it  will  produce  1,500  arrobas.  The  new  wine, 
as  soon  as  the  fermentation  is  over,  is  worth  from  nine 
to  ten  rials  an  arroba;  1,500  arrobas  are  equal  to 
about  4,590  gallons,  which  is  only  59  gallons  an  acre, 
and  at  the  highest  price  only  eight  dollars  and  one 
third  per  acre.  This  is  so  poor  a  return,  both  in 
quantity  and  value,  that  it  is  probable  the  vineyard  is 
still  far  from  having  been  brought  into  full  bearing, 
and  that  the  159  acres  must  have  been  considered 
worth  a  considerable  part  of  the  price,  notwithstand- 
ing its  depreciation. 


58  MALAGA. 

The  produce  of  the  vineyards  round  Malaga,  which 
is  not  converted  into  raisins,  is  now  chiefly  a  dry 
wine.  It  is  similar  to  sherry,  but  very  inferior 
in  flavour,  and  is  chiefly  taken  off  by  the  Ameri- 
cans. The  demand  from  America  has  greatly  in- 
creased since  the  general  establishment  of  temperance 
societies  in  that  country.  This  wine  retains  a  sweet 
taste  till  it  is  two  years  old.  The  Old  Mountain,  or 
Malaga  sweet  wine,  which  was  formerly  so  much  in 
demand,  is  now  almost  out  of  fashion  throughout  the 
world,  and  is  very  little  made.  It  was  formerly  the 
chief  export  from  Malaga. 

Friday,  28tli  October. — Having  been  introduced  to 
Mr.  Bryan,  a  gentleman  of  Irish  extraction,  and  bro- 
ther-in-law to  Mr.  Heredia,  one  of  the  principal  mer- 
chants in  Malaga,  I  went  with  him  to  visit  the  cellars 
of  the  latter.  There  is  no  such  wine  as  Malvasia, 
which  is  said,  in  the  Topographie  des  Vignobles,  to  be 
produced  at  Malaga.  The  Muscat  wine  is  very 
scarce,  the  raisins  being  so  much  more  profitable. 
They  make  a  white  sweet  wine  with  the  Pedro  Xi- 
menes,  and  a  small  portion  of  the  Muscat  wine  added 
to  it,  to  give  it  the  flavour  of  Muscat  wine.  The  sole 
difference  between  this  wine  and  the  Mountain,  is  that 
the  latter  is  mixed  with  a  portion  of  must,  which  has 
been  boiled  down  to  one.  third  ;  this  also  gives  it  the 
brown  colour.  Mr.  Bryan  says,  that  within  the  last  two 
years  there  has  been  a  great  demand  for  sweet  wines 
from  the  United  States.  Most  of  the  wines  this  year 
were,  therefore,  made  sweet,  and  the  farmers  are  get- 
ting a  better  price.  The  new  wine  is  this  year  worth 
to  the  grower  twelve  rials  the  arroba.  The  dif- 
ference in  the  making  between  the  sweet  wine 
and  the  dry  is,  that  when  the  grapes  are  intended  for 
the  former  they  are  spread  out  for  three  or  four  days 
in  the  sun.  The  new  wine,  when  sweet  is  worth  a 
third  more  than  when  dry.  An  abrado  of  1,000  stocks, 
even  in  the  mountains,  Mr.  Bryan  said,  will  some- 
times yield  three  or  four  butts  of  wine.  Mr.  Heredia 
has  lately  purchased  a  vineyard  of  400  abrados,  which 


MALAGA.  59 

they  are  now  improving.  In  one  or  two  years  more 
they  expect  it  will  yield  1,000  butts  of  wine  annually. 
Mr.  Bryan  thinks  it  may  contain  500,000  stocks ;  he 
the  varieties  of  vines  chiefly  cultivated,  are  the 
Pedro  Ximenes  and  the  Doradillo.  Both  the  dry  and 
the  sweet  wines  are  made  from  them,  the  difference 
being  only  in  the  management.  In  Mr.  Heredia's 
vineyard,  which  is  situated  to  the  north  of  Malaga, 
near  the  top  of  the  mountain,  there  are  fifteen  varieties 
of  wine ;  but  by  far  the  greater  portion  consists  of 
two  varieties  already  mentioned.  The  system  of 
pruning  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Malaga  has  hitherto, 
Mr.  Bryan  says,  been  very  bad,  it  having  been  the 
universal  practice  to  leave  a  spur  on  every  shoot,  weak 
or  strong,  and  no  care  was  taken  to  keep  them  from 
the  ground.  Since  their  house  became  such  extensive 
proprietors  of  vines,  they  have  procured  men  from  JTe- 
rcs  de  la  Frontera  to  prune  the  vines,  according  to 
the  system  pursued  at  the  latter  place ;  but  they  find 
great  difficulty  in  getting  their  own  people  to  follow^  the 
example  set.  Mr.  Bryan  pressed  me  very  much  to 
visit  with  him  their  vineyard,  which  they  were  now 
pruning,  the  leaves  having  fallen,  in  consequence  of 
the  difference  of  temperature  at  that  elevation,  al- 
though near  Malaga  they  were  still  perfectly  fresh  : 
he  promised  to  send  to  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  an  assortment 
of  cuttings  of  every  variety  in  the  vineyard  ;  and  on 
the  other  hand  he  requested  me  to  purchase  all  the 
publications  which  have  lately  appeared  in  France,  on 
subjects  connected  with  vine  growing,  and  forward 
any  information  which  might  strike  me  as  particularly 
valuable  to  ti'eni.  This,  he  says,  may  save  him  the 
trouble  of  a  trip  to  France,  which  he  was  contem- 
plating. 

Mr.  Bryan  disapproves  of  the  system  pur.-'  od  in 
Xeres,  of  leaving  a  void  of  one  fifteenth  part  in  each 
cask,  with  the  bung  loose  to  admit  the  air.  He  refers 
to  Dr.  Ure's  Chemistry  as  an  authority  against  this 
practice.  It  seldom  happens,  however,  that  sherry 
wines  thus  exposed  turn  sour  in  consequence,  al- 


CO  VARIETIES  OP  VINES. 

though  this  would  inevitably  happen  with  wines  of  less 
body. 

The  farmers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Malaga  do 
not,  like  those  of  Xeres,  hold  their  wine  twelve  months 
before  selling  it  to  the  merchant.  They  have  earthen 
vats,  of  the  shape  of  an  urn,  and  sometimes  large 
enough  to  contain  two  or  three  butts.  Into  these  vats 
the  must  flows  as  it  is  pressed  ;  and  as  they  become 
full,  in  order  igupake  room  for  more,  the  wine  is  con- 
veyed from  them,  more  or  less  fermented,  as  it  may 
happen,  to  the  stores  of  the  merchant.  Their  means 
of  conveyance  are  mules  and  asses,  the  wine  being 
carried  in  sheepskins  ;  these  skins,  from  being  constant- 
ly used,  do  not,  however,  give  any  taste  to  the  wine. 
No  difference  seems  to  be  made  in  price  in  conse- 
quence of  any  real  or  supposed  difference  in  quali- 
ty ;  and  the  culture  of  the  vine,  excepting  that  of 
the  Muscatel  for  raisins,  seems  to  be  a  very  poor  pur- 
suit. 

1  Messrs.  Heredia  and  Co.  sent  a  quantity  of  wine  to 
America  without  brandy,  and  it  was  much  liked,  and 
considered  to  bear  a  resemblance  to  Champagne.  I  also 
tjSted  wine  of  a  year  old,  which  he  said  resembled 
^|pat  had  been  sent.  It  was  very  deficient  in  flavour, 
but  promised  to  be  a  wine  of  a  good  body  when  older. 
I  \ilso  tasted  some  wine  which  had  been  sent  to  Ha- 
vana for  the  voyage,  but  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  ex- 
ceedingly vapid  and  flavourless.  Mr.  Bryan  com- 
plained of  the  presence  of  tartaric  acid  in  their  wines, 
which  gives  it,  when  new,  a  harsh  taste.  It  appeared 
to  me  that  this  acid  was  rather  deficient  than  in  ex- 
cess, and  I  told  him  I  thought  their  wines  would  have 
more  character  if  fermented  with  the  ln:s!-:s.  and,  per- 
haps, (  ven  a  part,  of  the  stalks.  I  think  their  vapid 
j,  orfadcvr,  to  use  a  French  :un,  is  chiefly 

owin,r  lo  the  must  containing  only  the  pun-si  principles 
of  I'D  A  more  violent  fermentation,  produced 

by  a  larger  quantity  being  ferine-  mass,  would, 

on  the  oilier  hand,  make  the  win  ulv  as  at 

present,  notwithstanding  the  addition  of  these  other 


CULTIVATED  .\EAR  MALAGA.  61 

principles.  Indeed,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  that  by 
allowing  a  large  portion  of  tartaric  acid  to  mingle  in 
the  must  with  the  husks  and  stalks,  a  perfect  fermen- 
tation would  be  much  earlier  effected. 

The  best  wine  in  Mr.  Heredia's  cellars  falls  far 
short  of  a  good  sherry.  They  have  not  yet  adopt- 
ed the  system  of  having  soleras,  which  are  never 
exhausted.  But  Mr.  Bryan  says,  their  attention  has 
been  so  largely  devoted  to  other  pursuits,  that  hither- 
to they  have  not  paid  so  much  attention  to  their  wines 
as  they  will  do  now  that  they  have  embarked  so  large- 
ly in  the  business. 

In  the  evening  I  accepted  an  invitation  from  an  old 
Irish  merchant,  who  has  been  settled  in  Malaga  for 
forty  years,  (Don  Juan  Langan,)  to  visit  his  cellars.  He 
has  been  in  the  habit  of  sending  choice  wines  to  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  and  particularly  of  supplying  the  cel- 
lars of  noblemen,  and  men  of  great  wealth.  Although 
his  stock  is  not  very  large,  he  has  decidedly  the  t\est 
wines  I  have  tasted  in  Malaga  ;  that  is,  dry  wines. 
Some  of  them,  he  says,  are  twenty  years  old  and  up- 
wards. Some  of  his  wines  of  seven  or  eight  yoars 
old  resembled  a  good  sherry,  and  he  agreed  with  mef  in 
thinking  that  his  sweet  wine  of  that  age  was  equal  to 
those  three  times  as  old.  He  further  agreed  with  me, 
that  the  great  age  of  those  wines  did  by  no  means  add 
proportionably  to  their  quality  ;  and  he  evidently  un- 
derstands the  art  of  giving  the  qualities  generally  at- 
tributed to  age,  by  mixing,  and  other  management. 
He  himself  hinted  at  the  success  with  which  he  had 
conducted  this  branch  of  trade,  and  he  has  the  repu- 
tation of  having  acquired  great  wealth. 

In  the  evening  I  for  the  last  time  took  leave  of  my 
kind  and  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  and  embark- 
ed on  board  the  French  schooner,  in  which  I  had  en- 
gaged my  passage  to  Marseilles.  I  left  with  Mr. 
Kirkpatrick  the  following  memorandum  :  "  a  box 
three  feet  long,  by  two  feet  deep,  and  two  feet  wide, 
will  contain  nearly  500  cuttings  of  vines,  each  the  full 
length  of  the  box.  The  book  called  Conversaciones 
G 


62  (SEVERAL  OBSERVATIONS 

Malaguenas  contains  a  list  of  the  varieties  cultivated 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Malaga.  Perhaps  there  are' 
some  new  varieties  which  were  not  known  when  it 
was  published.  About  thirty  varieties  are  there  enu«- 
merated.  This  would  allow  of  thirteen  or  fourteen 
cuttings  of  each  kind  to  be  sent ;  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  it  will  be  possible  to  procure  cuttings  of  every 
kind ;  there  will,  therefore,  be  room  in  the  box  to  send 
a  greater  quantity  of  the  most  valuable  ;  for  example, 
the  Muscatel  (the  Larga,  or  long  grape,  which  yields 
the  bloom  raisins)  and  the  Pedro  Ximenes ;  six  or 
eight  cuttings  of  each  would  be  enough  of  the  less  es- 
teemed Varieties;  It  will  be  observed  that  there  are 
two  kinds  of  the  Muscatel ;  the  smaller  may  be  underva- 
lued in  this  country,  but  it  may  suit  our  climate  better 
than  the  other.  Mr.  Delius  mentioned  a  vine  which 
had  produced  bunches  weigh  ing  fifty  pounds.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  possible  to  obtain  cuttings  of  this  kind. 
'  perhaps  of  the  identical  vine.  I  should  not  like  the 
little  Corinth  grape  to  be  forgotten.  A  cutting  should 
be  taken  from  the  lowest  part  of  the  shoot,  as  near  to 
the  stock  as  possible,  the  top  part  of  the  branch  being 
cut  away.  Those  are  the  best  which  contain  the 
greatest  number  of  knots  or  buds  ;  a  string  to  be  tied 
round  each  variety,  and  a  small  piece  of  wood  tied 
to  the  string  numbered,  so  as  to  correspond  with  the 
number  in  the  list  and  description. 

"  Besides  the  name  in  the  book,  and  colour  of  the 
grape,  it  would  be  desirable  that  the  name  most  com- 
monly given  in  the  country  should  be  stated ;  also, 
whether  it  is  most  esteemed  for  raisins  or  for  wine  ; 
whether  used  for  sweet  or  dry  wines  ;  whether  a  great 
bearer  or  otherwise ;  whether  it  ripens  early  or  late  ; 
whether  cultivated  in  the  vineyards,  or  the  gardens, 
and  any  other  particulars  which  may  distinguish  it. 
The  cuttings  will  pack  better  if  procured  as  strait  as 
possible.  Should  it  be  found  that  there  is  not  room  to 
send  six  or  eight  cuttings  of  the  least  esteemed  varie- 
ties, let  the  number  be  diminished  to  four  or  five  ;  but, 
under  any  circumstances,  I  should  not  like  fewer  than 


\VINE.  -C3 

:-,  twenty  to  thirty  each  of  the  Muscatel,  Bloom, 
-md  Pedro  Xiraenes. 

"  The  interstices  formed  by  the  cuttings  to  be  filled 
up  with  sand  and  very  dry  soil.  Two  boxes  of  the 
above  description  to  be  prepared,  one  to  be  sent  by 
the  first  vessel  which  sails  after  the  vines  can  be  cut 
with  safety,  which  undoubtedly  may  be  done  about  the 
1st  of  December,  the  duplicate  by  the  next  vessel  that 
may  follow,  both  addressed  to  Messrs.  Walker,  Lon- 
don, who  will  pay  all  expenses  which  may  have  been 
incurred  up  to  the  arrival  of  the  boxes  in  London,  and 
will  send  them  to  New  South  Wales  by  different  ships, 
and  by  the  earliest  opportunities.  Perhaps,  in  addition 
to  the  above,  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  will  take  the  trouble 
to  procure  a  quantity,  say  a  gallon,  of  the  freshest 
Royal  Dates  of  Barbary;  also  a  few  of  the  common 
varieties,  and  a  gallon  of  Jordan  almonds,  and  send 
them  in  a  box  to  the  same  address.  Also  in  the  same 
box  a  few  seeds  of  the  very  fine  onion,  which  is  so 
abundant  in  Malaga,  and  of  any  esteemed  kind  of 
melons,  or  any  other  fruit  or  vegetable  grown  from 
seed  which  may  be  considered  worth  attention.  After 
my  arrival  in  London  I  shall  ascertain  what  are  the 
best  seasons  and  modes  of  sending  plants  of  the1  Span- 
ish chestnut  and  Jordan  almond,  and  I  will  take  the 
liberty  to  write  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  upon  the  subject,  sa- 
tisfied, as  I  cannot  but  feel,  that  he  will  esteem  it  rather 
a  pleasure  than  a  trouble  to  contribute  to  the  advance- 
ment of  a  colony  containing  so  large  a  proportion  of 
his  countrymen  as  New  South  Wales." 

During  my  stay  in  Malaga  I  also  wrote  to  my  friend 
Dr.  Wilson  a  letter,  which  contained  the  following 
observations  and  queries  relative  to  Sherry  wines : — 

"  I  have  been  thinking  a  good  deal  about  the 

Sherry  wines,  and  there  are  some  points  on  which  I 
have  not  been  able  to  satisfy  myself.  You  know  we 
no  sooner  had  the  practice  of  returning  the  scum  upon 
the  wine,  by  means  of  a  funnel,  pointed  out  to  us  by 
Mr.  Domecq,  than  we  condemned  \L  It  has  occurred 
io  OQe5  that  after  all,  it  may  in  most  cases  be  the  best 


64  GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS 

thing  they  could  do.  It  is  the  saccharine  principle 
that  is  undoubtedly  most  abundant  in  the  grapes  of 
these  climates,  and  the  imperfect  fermentation  which 
takes  place  in  a  butt,  may  require  to  be  carried  for- 
ward by  the  addition  of  the  yeast,  which,  were  it  not 
for  the  funnel,  would  escape.  I  think  Cormack  used 
the  expression,  that  it  was  to  feed  the  wine  that  the 
scum  was  returned.  In  this  I  have  no  doubt  he  was 
correct.  On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  to  be  agreed 
that  a  good  deal  of  the  Sherry,  even  of  the  albarizas, 
turns  sour.  This  might  undoubtedly  be  prevented  by 
a  contrary  arrangement  to  the  above.  I  think  Domecq 
said,  that  sometimes  100  butts  of  the  Machar  Nudo 
wine  would  turn  sour  in  one  season.  I  wish  you  would 
ask  him  whether  there  has  been  an  instance  of  any  of 
his  wine  turning  sour  since  he  adopted  the  practice  of 
allowing  the  scum  to  escape.  Perhaps  there  are  par- 
ticular kinds  of  grapes  in  the  vineyard  which  yield  a 
wine  without  body.  Perhaps  particular  parts  of  the 
soil  do  not  bring  the  grapes  to  perfection.  You  will 
see  from  Chaptal  what  a  difference  there  frequently 
exists  in  France  in  the  value  of  the  produce  of  two 
sides  of  the  same  hill.  It  was  a  question  I  always 
forgot,  01^  neglected  to  put,  at  Xeres,  whether  the  dif- 
ference of  exposure  was  found  to  affect  the  quality  of 
the  wine.  I  suspect  all  these  things  have  been  over- 
looked. 

"  When  I  saw  the  state  of  the  grapes  which  Domecq 
•     was  pressing,  and  which  seemed,  in  fact,  no  worse  than 
others  we  saw  in  all  directions,  I  thought  it  was  easy 
to  account  for  the  scuddiness  which  so  generally  at- 
tacks Sherry  wines.     Cassabon's  overseer,  however, 
afterwards  showed  us,  that  however  broken  or  rotten 
ia  appearance,  the  grapes  were  by  no  means  in  reality 
''decayed.     This  shook  my  faith  in  scuddiness  being 
the  result  of  the  employment  of  decayed  grapes.     On 
the  whole,  I  think  if  a  more  perfect  fermentation  were 
effected  in  the  first  instance,  little  scuddiness  would 
"i      ever  afterwards  be  found  in  the  wine.     I  think  you 
will  find  in  Chaptal,  that  the  graisse,  which  I  take  to 


CK  SPANISH  WIST,  65 

be  the  same  thing,  most  frequently  shows  itself  in 
wines  which  have  undergone  little  fermentation  ;  that 
is,  where,  in  order  to  preserve  the  bouquet,  the  fer- 
mentation  is  stopped.     He  says  elsewere  also,  that  it 
had  been  usual  at  Orleans  to  ferment  the  must  with 
stalks  and  skins  and  all.     At  one  time,  however,  they 
thought  of  relieving  their  wine  of  a  degree  of  harshness, 
by  not  suffering  the  stalks  to  be  fermented,  but  it  was 
found  that  the  wine  was  much  more  subject  to  graisse, 
and  they  returned  to  their  oid  practice.  He  says,  that  in 
various  parts  of  France  they  deprive  the  grapes,  i.  e, 
the  must,  more  or  less  of  the  stalks,  according  as  the 
•season  has  been  favourable  or  otherwise  for  maturing 
the  grapes.     In  a  very  fine  season  they  leave  all  the 
stalks,   considering  it  necessary  to  produce  a  perfect 
fermentation.     In  no  part  of  Spain,  as  far  as  I  can 
find,  do  they  ferment  even  the  skins  of  the  grapes.* 
Were  I  concerned  in  the  business.  I  should  certainly 
attach  much  importance  to,  and  expect  important  re- 
sults from,  a  trial  of  the  system  of  large  vats,  and  the 
fermentation  of  the  skins,  in  order  at  once  to  effect  a 
thorough   fermentation.     In  most  cases  I  think  you 
would  have  an  Amontillado ;  that  is,  if  you  allowed 
the  grapes  to  be  as  ripe  as  they  are  allowed  to  be  at  • 
present,  dried  them  in  the  sun,   and  assisted  their 
natural  dryness  still  further  by  adding  gypsum.     (By 
the  bye,  may  the  gypsum  not  contribute,  by  absorbing 
the  existing  acid,  to  produce  scuddiness  ?)     But  if,  as 
is  the  practice  at  San  Lucar,  you  make  the  vintage 
before  all  the  grapes  should  attain  the  perfect  ripe- 
ness they  do  at  present,  and  were  less  particular  in 
depriving  them  of  moisture,  then  I  think  you  would 
have  a  wine  something  between  the  Manzanilla  and 
the  Amontillado  ;  not  so  dry  as  the  latter,  but  adding 
much  of  the  mellowness  and  richness  of  Sherrv  to  the 


*  The  n>d"tt-ines  of  Catalonia,  n:ul  of  other  provinces  which  produce  red 
wine,  are  of  course  au  exception  to  this  observation,  as  it  is  necessary  to 
icrmcnt  the  skins  in  order  to  give  tlij  wine  a  L-<.:'.<.ur. 

G* 


63  GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS 

lightness  of  the  Manzanilla.  The  latter  is,  in  fact,  the 
natural  wine  of  the  country  on  the  ordinary  soils.  If 
the  produce  of  the  albarizas  were  treated  in  the  same 
manner,  you  would  have  a  wine  of  the  same  charac- 
ter, but  probably  surpassing  it  in  quality  as  much  as 
the  real  wines  of  the  Chateau  Margaux  and  Haut 
Brion  surpass  the  ordinary  growths  of  Claret.  Add 
to  this  what  I  cannot  but  think  would  be  a  certain, 
and  to  the  merchant  the  most  important  result,  you 
would  have  a  wine  as  ripe  in  eighteen  months  as  it 
now  is  in  three  or  four  years.  There  are  two  or  three 
other  little  points,  about  which  I  should  like  to  inquire. 
Domecq  said,  a  number  of  his  grapes  had  rotted  this 
year,  in  consequence  of  the  wet  weather  and  luxuriant 
vegetation.  This  he  would  prevent  in  similar  seasons 
in  future,  by  stripping  ofTthe  leaves  to  give  the  grapes 
sun  and  air.  Pray  is  this  practice  not  generally 
known  in  the  country  ?  In  the  South  of  France  it  is  a 
regular  part  of  the  labours  of  the  vineyard,  unless  in 
remarkably  dry  seasons.  Another  query  is,  do  they 
never  take  the  top  ofi'the  branch  after  the  grapes  are 
formed  ? — I  should  like  to  know  Pedro  Domecq's  ideas 
about  the  agua  pies.  In  many  seasons,  Cormack  says. 
the  agua  pies  is  better  than  the  first  pressing, — now 
this  can  only  be  owing  to  the  over- ripeness  of  the 
grape — to  its  containing  too  much  saccharine  matter 
in  proportion  to  its  moisture.  Would  it  riot  be  better 
to  make  the  vintage  earlier  ?  and,  instead  of  adding 
foreign  moisture,  you  would  then  have  enough  of  the 
natural  juice  of  the  fruit,  and  enough  also  of  saccha- 
rine matter,  seeing  its  excess  is  the  most  general  fault. 
But  this  would  not  suit  the  hot  mouths  of  your  En- 
glish customers.  If  you  have  an  opportunity,  give 
me  some  particulars  of  the  relative  value  of  the  alba- 
rizas and  arenas.  I  am  confident  Cormack  must  be 
mistaken.  I  think  it  is  barely  possible  but  that  the 
albarizas  must  be  double,  if  not  treble,  the  value  of  the 
others." 

Thursday,  10th  November. — After  encountering  a 
succession  of  contrary  winds  and  calms,  we  this  day 


ON    SPAMSII    WINE.  67 

came  to  an  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Rosas,  in  Catalonia, 
the  north  wind  blowing  so  strongly  out  of  the  Gulf  of 
Lyons,  that  it  was  impossible  to  double  Cape  Creux.  I 
was  now  on  the  verge  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  wine 
countries  in  France,  and  was  glad  of  this  opportunity 
of  quitting  the  vessel  before  her  arrival  at  her  destina- 
tion. But  on  touching  the  bea.ch  we  were  informed 
that  we  must  be  put  under  quarantine,  owing  to  a  re- 
port that  the  yellow  fever  had  broken  out  at  Gibral- 
tar. 

Rosas,  like  most  of  the  other  towns  I  have-seen  on 
the  east  coast  of  Spain,  is  backed  by  steep  hills,  which 
are  clothed  with  vines  and  olives  to  the  very  tops. 
In  the  distance  are  the  Pyrenees,  capped  with  snow. 
If  one  might  judge  from  the  state  of  these  hills,  con- 
trasted with  that  of  the  rich  plains  of  Andalusia,  we 
might  draw  the  conclusion,  that  wherever  nature  had 
been  bountiful,  man  had  been  indolent ;  but  where  she 
had  been  niggardly  in  her  gifts,  the  difficiency  had 
been  more  than  compensated  by  the  industry  of  man. 
The  hills  above  Rosas,  as  well  as  those  in  the  south, 
exhibit  every  where  an  appearance  of  the  most  care- 
ful cultivation,  and,  in  general,  are  covered  with  habi- 
tations, while  it  was  rare  that  a  detached  house  was 
met  with  for  many  miles  on  the  plains. 

Friday,  11  th  November. — On  paying  a  small  fee  to 
the  health  officer,  I  was  permitted,  under  his  guardian- 
ship, to  walk  to  one  of  the  neighbouring  hills.  The 
soil  consisted  of  nothing  else  than  the  rough  debris  of 
the  granite  of  which  they  are  composed.  Towards 
the  bottom  of  the  hills  the  vines  were  planted  in  double 
rows,  three  feet  apart,  with  a  space  between  of  thrice 
that  width,  which  had  just  been  ploughed  for  a  grain 
crop.  Higher  up,  the  ground  is  entirely  covered  with 
vines  and  olives,  planted  with  regularity  wherever  the 
ground  permits  ;  but,  on  ascending  higher,  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  every  spot  where  it  was  possible  to 
thrust  a  plant  among  the  rocks.  These  vines  have 
been  planted  with  great  labour,  as  there  is  scarely  soil 
enough  to  cover  their  roots  ;  and  terraces  have  been 


08  ROSAS    IX    CATALOMA. 

formed  by  small  walls  of  dry  stone,  to  prevent  the 
little  there  is  from  being  washed  away.  The  vines 
were  all  pruned  down  to  one  or  two  knots  on  each 
mother  branch,  and  each  vine  had  from  three  to  six  or 
seven  shoots,  in  proportion  to  their  strength.  Those 
among  the  rocks  were  in  general  very  stinted,  and 
must  bear  a  very  small  crop.  The  olives,  which  they 
were  now  employed  in  gathering,  were  a  small  black 
variety  and  I  could  not  observe  that  they  had  suffered 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  olives  of  Andalusia. 

Monday,  14th  November. — Having  yesterday  been 
permitted  to  land,  I  spent  last  night  in  the  Posada,  at 
Rosas,  and  proceeded  this  morning  to  Figueras,  in 
order  to  join  the  diligence,  which  passes  to-morrow 
morning  for  Perpignan. — This  country,  though  far 
from  being  naturally  so  rich,  is  in  a  much  higher  state 
of  cultivation,  and  proportionally  more  productive  than 
the  south.  Passing  through  the  town  I  observed  them 
carrying  out  from  a  cellar  the  refuse  of  a  fermenting 
vat,  and  on  entering  I  found  they  had  just  been  press- 
ing the  skins,  which  had  fermented  with  the  wine. 
Outside  the  cellar  were  two  presses,  each  on  wheels. 
These  were  composed  of  a  box  2^  feet  long,  and  about 
the  same  width  and  depth,  formed  by  light  bars,  with 
stronger  bars  at  the  corners.  Before  and  behind  these 
boxes  was  a  screw,  and  there  wa  -  ;  o  convey  to  a 

vessel  placed  below,  the  must  which  would  ilmv  through 
the  bars  to  the  bottom  on  the  pressure  being  applied. 
It  was  evident  that  these  were  itinerant  presses,  which 
the  proprietor  was  accustomed  to  send  to  the  different 
vineyards  as  they  were  required.  I  found  also  that 
he  had  a  more  powerful  press  within  the  cellar,  and 
that  there  also  was  a  mill  fur  grinding  olives,  much 
superior  to  the  one  I  had  seen  at  the  Marquis  del  Arco 
Hermoso's.  The  basin  of  the  mill  consisted  of  an  im- 
mense piece  of  granite,  formed  into  a  circle,  and  hol- 
lowed out  in  a  sloping  direction,  leaving  a  space  level 
at  the  bottom  consider;, biy  greater  than  was  required 
for  the  vertical  stone *to  turn  upon,  as  upon  a  pivot ; 
and  attached  to  the  vertical  stone  was  a  sort  of  scoop, 


PERTIGNAJT.  G9 

which  collected  the  scattered  olives  into  the  line  which 
it  passed  over. 

Tuesday,  \5th  November. — This  morning  at  9  o'clock 
I  took  my  seat  in  the  coupe,  of  the  diligence,  for  Per- 
pignan.  I  found  here  an  Englishman  who  was  return- 
ing from  an  excursion  to  Madrid  and  Barcelona.  The 
road  passed  through  a  valley  in  the  direction  of  the 
Pyrenees,  the  soil  every  where  cultivated  like  a  gar- 
den. Here  were  immense  numbers  of  olive  trees  of 
a  very  large  size,  underneath  which  grain  crops  are 
cultivated.  Some  of  the  wheat  has  almost  covered  the 
ground ;  but  in  general  it  is  just  making  its  appear- 
ance, and  in  many  places  the  plough  is  still  at  work. 
On  the  hills  the  vines  are  cultivated  in  terraces,  and 
not  a  spot  is  left  unoccupied.  Adjoining  the  road  over 
the  Pyrenees  are  every  where  to  be  seen  the  marks  of 
the  greatest  industry  ;  not  a  spot  which  is  capable  of 
cultivation  is  left  untouched,  and  the  mountain  scene- 
ry is  sometimes  beautifully  diversified  by  dwellings 
surrounded  with  trees  of  every  kind,  and  enlivened 
by  the  verdure  with  which  the  mountain  stream  has 
covered  its  banks.  The  hills  themselves  are  entirely 
destitute  of  herbage.  After  passing  the  town  of  La 
Jonquiere  on  the  French  side,  the  ground  (although 
evidently  of  a  very  meagre  quality)  appeared  general- 
ly cultivated  with  vines  and  corn.  The  vines  appeared 
every  where  to  be  cultivated  with  great  care.  I  re- 
marked some  new  plantations ;  and,  in  one  instance, 
a  plantation  of  the  preceding  year  had  made  so  little 
progress,  that  I  could  scarcely  persuade  myself  the 
vines  were  not  the  cuttings  of  the  present  year  newly 
planted,  with  some  of  the  leaves  still  remaining  upon 
them.  On  questioning  the  postilion  as  to  this  point, 
he  sai'd  that  the  plantation  had  two  years,  but  the 
ground  here  was  so  very  arid  the  vines  made  little 
progress. 

Wednesday,  16th  November. — Having  called  at  the 
banking  house  of  Messrs.  Durand,  who  are  agents  for 
Herries,  Farquhar,  and  Go's  notes,  I  took  occasion  to 
mention  to  one  of  these  gentlemen  the  object  with 


70  VIXEYAKDS  AND  WI.NES 

which  I  was  travelling,  and  to  ask  his  advice  as  to  the 
best  mode  of  seeing  the  vineyards  near  Perpignan. 
He  said  I  could  not  have  inquired  of  persons  more 
competent  to  give  me  information  ;  that  they  had  con- 
siderable agricultural  establishments  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  if  I  and  my  friend  (the  gentleman  with  whom 
I  had  travelled  from  Figueras)  would  accompany 
them  the  next  day,  they  would  be  glad  to  give  us  every 
information  in  their  power.  After  accepting  this  very 
liberal  offer,  with  due  expressions  of  thankfulness,  I 
mentioned  that  I  had  heard  of  their  eminence  as  agri- 
culturists, and  had  I  gone  to  Marseilles  in  the  first  in- 
stance, I  intended  to  have  procured  an  introduction  to 
them.  He  replied  that  it  was  unnecessary ;  that  if 
we  were  agriculturists  we  were  their  friends — that  all 
agriculturists  were  their  friends.  It  was  accordingly 
arranged  that  we  should  accompany  them  the  next 
morning  in  their  carriage. 

Thursday,  11 th  November. — Mr.  Durand  having 
recommended  our  starting  at  six  in  the  morning ;  as 
the  days  were  short,  and  we  had  more  than  one  place 
to  visit,  we  proceeded  to  their  house  at  daybreak. 
Both  the  brothers  accompanied  us.  When  we  got 
clear  of  the  walls  of  Perpignan,  it  was  sufficiently 
light  to  enable  us  to  make  some  observations  as  we 
passed.  The  olive  is  cultivated  to  a  great  extent  on 
all  sides.  Mr.  Durand  knows  only  one  variety,  a 
large  black  sort,  not  so  large  as  the  La  Reyna  of  Se- 
ville, but  about  as  large  as  the  largest  of  the  other 
sorts  cultivated  there.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  olive 
has  this  season  been  attacked  by  a  worm,  but  it  is  at- 
tributed rather  to  a  deficiency  than  an  excess  of  rain. 

The  rain  has  this  season  been  below  the  average  in 
this  district,  and  the  country  has  suffered  a  good  deal 
in  consequence.  The  average  annual  produce  of  olive 
trees  throughout  the  country  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
pounds  of  oil ;  but  there  is  every  possible  variety.  A 
very  fine  olive,  in  a  favourable  year,  will  sometimes 
yield  as  much  as  80  pounds.  Such  a  misfortune  as 
has  happened  this  season  is  of  rare  occurrence,  In 


OP  PERPIG.XA^.  71 


planting  they  take  a  sucker  from  the  root  of  an  old 
tree,  and  keep  it  three  years  in  a  nursery  ;  it  is  then 
transplanted,  and  in  three  years  more  it  begins  to  give 
a  few  olives.  In  ten  years  it  has  become  a  largish 
tree,  but  requires  many  more  years  before  it  acquires 
all  the  magnitude  it  is  capable  of  reaching.  Many  of 
the  olives  we  passed  had  the  greatest  possible  appear- 
ance of  old  age.  They  were  so  old,  Mr.  Durand  said, 
that  no  one  had  any  knowledge  of  their  age.  In  ge- 
neral the  ground  underneath  was  cultivated  with  grain 
crops  ;  the  trees  are  benefited  by  the  manure,  and 
the  crop  suffers  only  partially  from  the  shade.  We 
saw,  however,  some  very  fine  trees  planted  from  thir- 
ty to  thirty-five  feet  apart,  which  overshadowed  the 
ground  so  much,  that  grain  crops  could  not  be  culti- 
vated under  them  with  advantage. 

After  a  drive  of  about  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  we 
arrived  at  the  first  of  Messrs.  Durand's  establishments. 
This  is  an  immense  square  enclosure,  with  high  walls 
and  buildings.  It  formerly  belonged  to  the  Knights 
Templars.  The  church  is  converted  to  a  wine  cellar, 
and  the  houses  of  the  Templars  to  the  residences  of 
Messrs.  Durand's  peasants.  Several  other  buildings 
are  also  erected  within  the  walls,  forming  altogether 
a  most  complete  and  extensive  homestead.  After 
taking  chocolate,  we  proceeded  to  the  vineyards.  Mr. 
Durand  only  cultivates  three  varieties  of  vines,  the 
Grenache,  which  gives  sweetness,  the  Carignan,  which 
gives  colour,  and  the  Mataro,  which  gives  quantity. 
His  vines  are  in  general  planted  either  on  the  plain,  or 
on  a  gently  inclined  slope  ;  but  when  there  is  a  slope, 
the  exposure  is  always  to  the  south.  The  soil  is  loose 
and  stony,  the  stones  quartz,  of  various  colours  and 
shades. 

The  stony  and  least  fertile  portions  of  the  estate  are 
selected  for  vines.  Some  of  the  cornfields  are  planted 
at  wide  intervals  with  olive  trees,  but  there  are  none 
of  these  among  the  vines.  The  distance  at  which  the 
vines  are  planted  is  always  four  feet,  and  the  quin- 
cunx is  preserved  with  the  greatest  possible  exact- 


72  VIXEVAKDS  AND  WINES 

ness.  The  ground  is  ploughed  twice  a  year ;  that  is, 
immediately  after  the  pruning,  which  is  now  going  on, 
and  in  spring,  after  the  vines  have  given  shoots  of 
eight  or  ten  inches  in  length.  On  both  occasions  it  is 
first  ploughed  in  one  direction,  and  then  cross  plough- 
ed. It  receives  no  other  labours  during  the  year,  and 
in  summer,  such  is  the  strength  of  vegetation  gene- 
rally among  the  vines,  that  few  weeds  make  their  ap- 
pearance, the  ground  being  almost  covered  with  the 
vine  shoots.  I  was  much  surprised  on  finding  that, 
with  the  exception  of  one  field,  the  only  preparation 
the  ground  had  received  previous  to  having  been  plant- 
ed was  a  common  ploughing.  The  cuttings  were 
then  put  down  in  holes  made  by  an  iron  bar  or  dibble, 
and  left  to  shift  for  themselves.  Many  of  them,  as 
might  be  expected  under  such  treatment,  never  came 
forward,  and  it  requires  six  years  before  the  vine- 
yard is  so  well  established  as  to  yield  a  crop. 

On  learning  this  I  had  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for 
the  small  progress  of  the  vines  I  had  seen  before  ar- 
riving at  Perpignan.  There  was  a  plantation  of  the 
Muscat  of  Frontignan,  wrhich  was  now  six  years  old. 
but  in  much  greater  vigour,  and  with  a  much  greater 
number  of  shoots  on  the  vines  than  was  usual.  Having 
remarked  this,  Mr.  Durand  informed  me,  that  in  plant- 
ing this  field  he  had  caused  a  hole  to  be  dug  for  each 
plant  18  inches  deep  by  18  inches  Jong,  and  12  wide, 
and  had  laid  the  cuttings  horizontally  into  this  trench, 
bending  up  the  extremity  where  the  plr.nt  was  to  grow. 
This,  he  said,  accounted  for  the  greater  number  of 
shoots  from  the  greater  quantity  of  roots.  The  pro- 
duce, he  said,  was  double  what  the  ordinary  vineyards 
yielded.  The  stocks  are  all  extremely  low,  not  more, 
in  general,  than  six  inches  from  the  ground;  but 
so  well  has  the  pruning  been  managed,  that  all  the 
shoots  arc  nearly  vertical ;  stakes  or  props  are  thus 
quite  unnecessary,  and  are  never  used.  Indeed,  their 
use  seems  to  be  quite  unknown  throughout  this  dis- 
trict. The  number  of  the  buds  or  knots  left  in  pruning 
was  from  three  to  six,  according  to  the  strength  of 


OF  ROUSILLON.  13 

4 

the  plant.  They  are  universally  pruned  in  the  spin- 
fashion.  Having  mentioned  the  system  of  alternate 
long  and  spur  shoots,  Mr.  Durand's  steward,  who 
seemed  to  be  a  very  respectable  and  well-informed 
man,  said  that  it  would  sooner  wear  out  the  plants. 
I  told  him  of  the  precaution  Mr.  Domecq,  of  Xeres, 
intended  to  adopt  in  order  to  prevent  the  attacks  of 
worms.  He  said,  that  however  close  the  branch 
might  be  pruned,  there  was  no  danger  of  these  worms 
finding  their  way  to  the  heart  of  the  stock,  unless  the 
stock  itself  were  bruised  or  broken.  It  was,  he  said. 
by  wounds  or  splits  in  the  stock  itself  that  the  worms 
found  access  to  it,  and  not  by  close  pruning  of  the  new 
wood.  In  this  opinion  I  perfectly  coincide  with  him. 
There  are  no  worms  in  any  of  their  vines ;  which  are, 
indeed,  all  in  the  highest  possible  order. 

The  average  produce  of  these  vines  is  six  barriques 
(hogsheads)  per  hectare  ;  this  is  about  140  gallons  per 
English  acre  ;  a  much  smaller  produce  than  I  would 
have  expected  from  the  general  health  and  vigour  of 
the  vines,  although  it  still  continues  a  matter  of  sur- 
prise that  they  should  produce  at  all,  considering  the 
great  hardness  of  the  subsoil,  and  the  slight  hold  of  ir 
which  is  originally  given  them.  Part  of  the  vineyard 
had  already  been  pruned,  and  two  men  were  busy  in 
a  part  which  we  visited.  There  had  been  fourteen 
men  employed  the  day  before  ;  but  this  was  the  /<•'•/• 
day  of  the  neighbouring  village,  and  only  two  of*  the 
men  had  come.  It  requires  a  man  ten  days  to  prune 
a  hectare.  The  instrument  which  they  use  is  contrived 
to  give,  in  some  degree,  the  purchase  of  a  lever. 

With  the  edge  A  they  cut  with  great 
care  the  shoots  where  a  bud  is  left   for 
the  following  season  ;  but  the  superfluous 
shoots  are  chopped  ofFwith  the  blunt  edge 
]B  B  with  very  little  ceremony.     I  took  this 
opportunity  to  request  that  Mr.  Duraad 
would  give  me  a  parcel  of  cuttings  of  all  the  kinds  of 
vines  he  possessed ;  and  he  immediately  gave  orders 
to  his  steward  accordingly. 
7 


' 


74  AGRICULTURE 

Between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  we  returned  to  the 
house,  and  after  a  substantial  dejeuner  a  la  fourchette, 
visited  the  wine-cellar.     Along  the  wall,  on  each  side 
of  the  cellar,  are  arranged  a  number  of  large  vats,  con- 
taining from  thirty  to  fifty  barriques — that  is,  from 
1800  to  3000  gallons  each  ;  the  whole  number  was 
fourteen  or  sixteen.     They  were  placed  horizontally, 
with  one  end  to  the  wall.     /Vbove  them,  on  each  side, 
is  a  floor  or  platform,  which  is  on  a  level  with  a  door 
that  opens  to   the  cellar  from  a  higher  side;  by  this 
door  the  grapes  are  brought  in.     On  the  platform  are 
several  troughs,  about  10  feet  long,  by  2£  feet  wide. 
.  the  side  sloping  inwards.     Above  the  boftom  of 
the  trough  there  is  a  false  bottom,  perforated  with  holes, 
and  divided  by  open  spaces,  which  allow  the  liquid  to 
pass  to  the  true  bottom,  whence  it  flows,  by  a  spout  at 
one  end,  into  an  aperture  of  about  a  foot  square  in  the 
upper  side  of  the  vat  underneath.     While  the  men  are 
treading  the  grapes  in  these  troughs,  they  take  out  a 
portion  of  the  stalks  by  means  of  a  three-pronged  stick, 
and  after  the  grapes  are  pretty  well  broken,  the  whole 
contents  of  the  trough  are  emptied  into  the  vat.     In  the 
vat  it  is  left  to  ferment,  from  eighteen  to  twenty- four 
days,  according  to  circumstances,  and  at  the  end  of 
that  period,  the  wine  is  drawn  off  to  another  vat,  by  < 
means  of  a  siphon  arid   a  pump.     The  marc,  or  skins 
and  grounds,  are  then  removed  to  the  press,  and  the 
wine  extracted  from  them  is  kept  apart,  as  being  of  in- 
ferior quality.     In  the  end  of  each  vat  there  is  an  aper- 
ture sufficiently  large  for  a   man  to  enter  and  clean  it 
out.     This  is  strongly  secured  by  means  of  copper 
screws.     After   having  been  removed  to  a  clean  vat, 
the  wine  is  kept  in  it  till  the  following  spring,  when  it 
is  again  drawn  off  the  lees.     When  twelve  months  old, 
it  is  sent  to  port  Vendre,  where  Mr.  Durand  has  very 
extensive  stores  and  cellars  ;  it  is  there  mixed  with  10 
percent,  of  brandy,  and  shipped  for  Paris.     This  is  the 
ordinary  description  of  Rousillon*  wine,  of  the  plain; 

*  Rousillon  is  the  old  name  of  the  province  which  is  now  called  "  Pyre- 
nees Orientales." 


OF  »OUSII,IX>N.  75 

but  being  made  with  more  care  than  that  of  the  smaller 
proprietors,  it  is  the  best  of  its  kind.  The  wine  of  the 
hills  is  of  a  better  quality. 

Exclusive  of  the  ploughing,  which  is  done  by  their 
permanent  servants,  the  management  of  the  vines  costs 
about  thirty  francs  a  hectare.  The  ploughing  and  the 
vintage  may  cost  fifteen  francs  more — being,  in  all, 
about  16s.  English  an  acre.  The  value  of  the  produce 
is  from  15  to  18  francs  a  charge  of  26  English  gallons  ; 
or  from  180  to  216  francs  per  hectare — that  is,  from 
£3  4s.  to  £4  16s.  per  English  acre. 

After  having  walked  into  the  garden,  which  was 
well  stocked  with  fruit  trees,  we  proceeded  to  the  other 
property  which  Messrs.  Durand  proposed  we  should 
visit.  This  was  entirely  an  irrigated  farm.  It  con- 
sists of  240  hectares,  562  acres,  and  every  acre  of  it 
can  be  laid  under  water  when  irrigation  is  required. 
This  farm  supports  between  1,000  and  1,100  sheep, 
1 14  head  of  cattle,  and  about  a  dozen  horses,  and  there 
is  always  less  than  two  fifths  of  the  land  in  pasture  or 
green  crops.  The  lucerne  is  cut  five  times  in  the  sea- 
son, and  twice  eaten  down.  The  soil  is  a  fine  friable 
mould.  In  a  field,  were  five  ploughs  were  at  work, 
it  turned  up  in  the  finest  possible  condition.  They 
were  ploughing  in  wheat.  Part  of  the  field  was  ma- 
nured, and  part  had  been  manured  the  preceding  sea- 
son. Messrs.  Durand  have  an  excellent  breed  of  cat- 
tle :  the  working  oxen  as  fine  almost  as  any  I  have 
ever  seen,  although  I  have  seen  larger.  In  all  the 
qualifications  of  depth  and  breadth  of  carcass,  they 
were  iie.-irly  perfect,  with  the  line  of  the  back  perfect- 
ly straight,  and  the  tail  well  set  on.  They  were  yoked 
with  bows  and  yokes,  the  bows  made  of  wood,  which 
seemed  to  answer  very  well.  The  ploughs  and  carts 
were  of  the  same  construction  as  those  generally  in 
use  in  the  country.  The  ploughman  drove  his  pair  of 
oxen  with  a  goad  fixed  to  the  end  of  a  long  pole  ;  on 
the  other  end  of  which  was  the  small  spade  for  clean- 
ing the  plough.  They  seemed  to  make  excellent  work, 
notwithstanding  the  rudeness  of  the  plough. 


76  AGRICULTURE 

The  buildings  on  this  farm  were  very  extensive, 
and  though  old,  are  now  undergoing  a  thorough  re- 
pair, which  will  leave  them  in  excellent  condition 
when  completed.  The  stables  and  sheep  houses  are 
very  spacious,  as  both  cattle  and  sheep  are  housed 
every  night.  The  lambs  are  always  kept  in  the  house, 
and  the  ewes  are  brought  home  to  them  three  times  a 
day.  The  lambs  appeared  all  of  the  same  size,  and 
must  all  have  been  dropped  within  two  or  three  days 
of  each  other.  The  wool  was  not  of  a  quality  that 
would  be  reckoned  fine  in  New  South  Wales ;  and 
yet  Mr.  Durand  says,  there  is  nothing  finer  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  At  the  rate  wools  were  selling 
in  August  this  year,  (1831,)  it  would  bring,'  in  Lon- 
don, about  I8d.  a  pound.  It  is  at  present  only  worth 
about  l^d.  here,  though  two  years  ago  it  sold  for  20d. 
A  good  wether  will  bring  10s.  or  12s.  They  do  not 
milk  the  cows,  but  allow  the  calves  to  suck  them. 
There  is  no  such  thing  known  in  this  country  as  a 
dairy  farm.  Oil  is  the  almost  universal  substitute  for 
every  purpose  to  which  butter  is  applied  with  us,  and 
milk  is  seldom  or  never  used.  There  are,  perhaps, 
few  prejudices  stronger  than  that  of  the  English  against 
the  general  use  of  oil,  which  they  are  accustomed  to 
consider  as  a  very  gross  kind  of  condiment ;  and  per- 
haps there  is  no  prejudice  more  unfounded.  For  sure- 
ly, the  pure  vegetable  juice  of  the  olive  is  far  from  be- 
ing inferior,  in  delicacy,  to  butter,  the  animal  fat  of  the 
cow  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  oil  is  also  more 
wholesome  and  congenial  to  the  human  constitution, 
in  a  hot  climate,  than  the  latter.  This  district  is  not 
celebrated  for  the  quality  of  its  oil ;  but  they  do  not, 
as  in  Spain,  consider  rancidity  a  merit ;  and  in  the  ho- 
tels it  is  furnished  of  very  good  quality,  while  the  olives 
are  quite  delicious.  Mr.  Durand's  working  oxen  are 
fed  during  the  winter  on  hay  of  excellent  quality,  and 
are  all  in  the  highest  condition.  They  have  also  po- 
tatoes, and  sometimes  turnips  in  winter.  One  set  is 
worked  from  morning  till  noon,  another  set  from  noon 
till  evening.  I  neglected  to  inquire  what  the  average 


or  KorsiLLoi*.  77 


produce  of  wheat  is  on  this  farm  ;  but  on  the  farm  first  vi- 
sited, where  there  was  no  irrigation,  it  was  sixteen  or 
seventeen  bushels  per  English  acre.  The  workmen  are 
paid  extremely  well.  The  permanent  servants  of  the 
farm  have  150  francs,  ($28,)  about  £6  a  year  in  money  ; 
C  hectolitres  (2l£  English  bushels)  of  wheat  ;  500  litres 
(120  gallons)  of  wine  ;  40  pounds  of  oil,  and  20  pounds 
of  salt,  besides  a  piece  of  ground  to  plant  vegetables 
and  haricots,  (the  great  dependence  of  the  working 
people  here,)  and  house  room  about  the  premises. 
The  peasants  and  their  wives  and  children  are  all  ex- 
tremely well  clothed.  Day  labourers,  at  all  seasons, 
receive  30  sous,  about  14d.  a  day.  In  the  harvest, 
mowers  and  sheep  shearers,  2£  francs,  and  reapers  two 
francs  per  day,  besides  their  food  ;  and  Mr.  Durand 
says,  they  make  six  meals  a  day  at  that  time,  and  the 
quantity  of  food  they  consume  is  almost  incredible.  ' 
About  sunset  we  reached  Perpignan,  from  which  the 
last  farm  was  three  leagues  distant,  highly  gratified 
with  our  excursion,  and  the  kindness  of  our  enter- 
tainers, who,  to  wind  up  their  attentions  for  the  day, 
iiad  invited  us  to  dine,  and  we  now  found  a  sumptuous 
dinner  waiting  our  arrival. 

Friday,  18th.  —  Messrs.  Durand  had  been  kind  enough 
to  say  that  they  would  give  me  a  letter  to  their  mana- 
ger at  Port  Yendre,  where  they  have  a  large  estab- 
lishment for  shipping  wines.  I  waited  upon  them  to- 
day, and  found  it  ready.  Port  Vendre  is  only  about 
half  a  league  from  Collioure,  which  I  had  resolved  to 
visit,  as  its  environs  produce  the  first  quality  of  Rou- 
sillon  red  wine.  At  two  o'clock  I  accordingly  took 
my  -place  in  the  diligence,  and  arrived  at  about  seven 
at  Collioure,  where  I  stopped  for  the  night.  From 
Perpigaan  in  this  direction  (southeast)  the  soil  is  richer 
than  I  have  elsewhere  observed  it  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Perpignan.  Though  there  is  here  and  there 
a  vineyard,  the  land  is  generally  under  corn  or  mea- 
dow. Two  or  three  miles  before  reaching  Collioure 
the  country  begins  to  ascend  towards  the  Pyrenees, 
on  the  tops  of  which,  bordering  the  ocean,  are  still  to 
7* 


78  COLLIOURE  AND 

be  seen  some  towers  built  by  the  Moors  when  mas- 
ters of  this  part  of  the  country.  No  sooner  do  the 
hills  begin  to  rise,  than  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  be- 
gins also,  and  the  first  ranges  of  the  mountains  are 
covered  with  it  to  their  very  tops. 

Saturday t  19th. — After  breakfast  this  morning  1 
walked  over  to  Port  Vendre,  and  waited  upon  Mr. 
Mas,  the  agent  of  Messrs.  Durand.  The  road  from 
Collioure  winds  from  hill  to  hill  along  the  shore.  The 
hills  are  exactly  similar  in  form  and  structure  to  those 
of  Malaga :  a  shale  or  schist,  with  a  slaty  gravel, 
plentifully  mixed  through  the  soil.  Mr.  Mas  conduct- 
ed me  over  the  hills  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town, 
which  are  planted  with  great  regularity  and  beauty 
in  terraces  from  6  to  18  feet  wide,  according  to  the 
slope  of  the  hill.  The  terraces  are  made  to  follow  the 
different  curves  taken  by  the  hills,  and  are  divided  by 
channels,  to  allow  of  the  passage  of  the  water.  It  is  a 
stated  part  of  the  labour  to  carry  up  the  soil  from 
the  lower  part  of  the  terrace,  where  it  has  been  stop- 
ped by  the  small  stone  walls,  to  the  higher  part. 

In  planting  these  hills  they  break  up  the  ground 
only  to  the  depth  of  eight  or  nine  inches,  and  as  they 
take  up  a  great  number  of  stones,  the  depth  of  the  soil 
remaining  is  not  more  than  six  inches.  They  then 
bore  a  hole  in  the  loose  rock  with  a  bar  of  iron,  and 
thrust  in  the  plant  to  the  depth  of  12  or  15  inches.  1 
saw  a  plantation  of  the  preceding  year  where  almost 
every  plant  had  succeeded,  although  none  of  them  had 
given  shoots  of  more  than  six  or  eight  inches.  Mr.  Mas 
says  it  was  formerly  the  practice  in  this  country  to 
trench  and  break  up  the  rock  to  the  depth  of  two  or 
three  feet,  but  (strange  to  say)  they  found  the  vines 
were  sooner  worn  out,  and  they  now  follow  the  less 
expensive  method.  A  hectare  of  middle-aged  vines  is 
here  worth  1,000  francs.  The  greatest  expense  is  in 
the  first  plantation,  for  it  is  universally  necessary  to 
build  a  series  of  terraces  to  support  the  soil.  The 
value  of  a  hectare  with  a  good  exposure,  before  plant- 
ing, is  500  francs.  There  is,  however,  little  ground 


PORT   V ENDUE.  79 

in  this  neighbourhood  remaining  to  be  planted,  al- 
though the  greatest  portion  has  been  brought  into  cul- 
tivation within  the  last  15  or  20  years.  The  average 
produce,  according  to  Mr.  Mas,  does  *not  exceed  six 
charges  the  hectare,  which  is  just  the  half  of  the  vines 
of  the  plain.  The  annual  expense  of  cultivation,  in- 
cluding the  vintage,  is  40  francs,  but  the  wine  is  worth 
28  to  30  francs  a  charge,  or  from  168  to  180  francs 
the  hectare.  The  distance  of  the  plants  is  from  three 
to  four  feet,  and  the  pruning  is,  in  every  respect,  simi- 
lar to  that  of  the  vines  of  the  plain.  The  varieties 
chiefly  cultivated  are  the  Grenache  and  the  Carignan. 
The  vines  are  never  manured.  The  wine  sometimes 
remains  in  the  fermenting  vat  so  long  as  30  days. 
Like  the  wine  of  the  plain,  it  is  seldom  drank  in  its 
pure  state,  but  is  sent  to  Paris,  with  an  addition  of 
from  7^  to  10  per  cent,  of  brandy,  in  order  to  be 
mixed  with  the  lighter  wines  of  Burgundy  and  Or- 
leans, to  give  them  strength  and  colour.  The  mixture 
of  the  brandy  has,  they  say,  a  double  purpose.  It 
enables  them  to  ship  the  wines  when  14  or  15  months 
old,  without  risk  of  their  turning  sour,  which  could 
not  be  done  for  twelve  months  more  without  the  ad- 
mixture ;  and  it  enables  the  Parisians  to  mix  a  portion 
of  water  in  order  to  reduce  the  wine  in  strength,  and 
thus  to  save  a  part  of  the  municipal  duty  which  is 
levied  on  wines  entering  Paris.  The  latter  is,  I  think, 
the  only  valid  argument.  Being  desirous  of  procu- 
ring some  of  the  wine  of  Collioure,  Mr.  Mas  sent  a 
person  with  me  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  employ 
in  such  matters,  and  after  completing  my  purchase,  I 
went  with  the  proprietor  to  the  vineyard  where  it  was 
produced,  and  obtained  four  varieties  of  grapes  which 
were  not  in  Mr.  Durand's  vineyards.  This  vineyard 
was  on  the  side  of  a  very  steep  hill,  and  appeared  to 
have  been  planted  with  great  labour ;  the  terraces  did 
not  exceed  from  eight  to  ten  feet  in  width,  and  the 
walls  were  from  two  to  three  feet  in  height.  He  said 
the  annual  average  from  500  plants  was  about  two 
charges  of  wine.  This,  according  to  the  distance  they 


80  PEUPIGNAN  AND 

were  planted,  was  rather  more  than  double  the  quantity 
stated  by  Mr.  Mas ;  but  it  was  probably  only  a  guess, 
although  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  estimate  of  the 
latter  was  under  the  truth.     There  was,  however,  no 
way  of  coming  nearer  the  true  state  of  the  case,  for 
he  knew  neither  the  extent  of  the  hectare,  nor  of  the 
arpent.     The  wine  of  Cosperon,  which  is  celebrated 
as  a  Vin  de  Liqueur,  is  the  produce  of  a  farm  which 
was  pointed  out  to  me  by  Mr.  Mas,  under  one  of  the 
/       hills  which  we  passed  over.     It  is,  according  to  his 
t*       account,  nothing  more  than  a  mixture  of  brandy  with 
the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape.     After  the  grapes 
^  "    (of  the  Grenache  kind)  are  very  ripe,  they  are  gather- 
•<fid  and  allowed  to  dry  a  few  days  in  the  sun  ;  they  are 
,^/then  pressed,  and  the  juice  is  put  into  a  cask,  where 
it  is  mixed  with  a  large  portion,  Mr.  Mas  thinks  from 
a  third  to  a  half  of  its  own  bulk,  of  brandy.  The  bran- 
dy prevents  the  fermentation,  the  liquor  retains  the 
sweetness  and  flavour  of  the  fruit ;  and  this  is  the  Vin 
de  Liqueur  of  Cosperon,  which  has  acquired  a  great 
name  in  the  south  of  France. 

Monday,  21st  November. — Having  returned  early 
yesterday  morning  from  Collioure  to  Perpignan,  I 
found  the  Messrs.  Durand  had  sent  to  my  hotel  9 
bundles,  containing  50  each,  of  nine  distinct  varieties 
of  vines,  and  on  visiting  them  at  their  house,  I  was 
again  pressed  to  dine  with  them,  but  on  this  occasion 
excused  myself.  The  kindness  and  attention  of  these 
gentlemen  to  me,  a  perfect  stranger,  without  the  slight- 
est claim  to  their  notice,  is  worthy  of  remark.  They 
are  the  sons  of  Mr.  Durand,  the  Deputy  for  the  Pro- 
vince, and  are  now  managing  his  affairs  in  his  absence. 
Their  mercantile  as  well  as  their  agricultural  concerns 
are  of  great  magnitude.  The  latter  they  informed  me 
yielded  only  about  5  per  cent,  upon  the  money  invest- 
ed, but  they  make  no  allowance  for  the  value  of  the 
improvements,  which  were  very  extensive.  Besides 
the  properties  I  visited  with  them,  the  one  consisting 
of  700,  and  the  other  of  560  acres,  they  had  two  other 
estates  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Perpignan,  and  all  in 


RIVESALTES.  81 

their  own  hands.  The  irrigated  land  is  worth  1500 
francs  (about  £60)  per  hectare,  the  vineyards  not  more 
in  general  than  one  third  of  that  sum  ;  but  that  pro- 
portion was,  I  believe,  intended  to  represent  the  value 
of  the  land  before  planting.  On  one  of  the  estates 
there  is  a  handsome  mansion,  with  extensive  gardens, 
and  a  green-house.  I  was  happy  to  promise  that  1 
would,  in  return  for  their  attention  to  me,  contribute 
to  stock  the  latter  by  sending  a  packet  of  Botany  Bay 
seeds,  a  present  which  I  was  glad  to  find  would  be 
highly  agreeable  to  one  of  the  brothers,  who  has  a  taste 
for  horticulture  and  botany. 

After  having  engaged  my  place  in  the  diligence  for 
Montpelier,  (which  was  to  start  at  seven  in  the  even- 
ing,) 1  procured  a  guide,  and  proceeded  to  visit  Rive- 
saltes,  which  is  famous  for  producing  the  first  sweet 
wine  of  France.  Rivesaltes  is  a  town  containing  about 
•3000  inhabitants,  situated  in  the  middle  of  an  irrigated 
plain,  about  four  miles  from  Perpignan.  The  vine- 
yards are  on  the  extremities  of  the  plain,  where  there 
is  a  dry  gigantic  soil ;  and  on  that  portion  which  sepa- 
rates the  meadow  land  of  Perpignan  from  those  of 
Rivesaltes,  it  is  so  thickly  covered  with  stones  of 
various  coloured  quartz  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  tread 
upon  it.  In  many  places  where  the  vines  appear  to 
grow  with  great  vigour,  and  to  have  attained  a  great 
age,  the  soil  is  of  such  a  nature  as  would  with  us  be 
considered  absolutely  sterile.  They  were  very  gene- 
rally engaged  in  the  vineyards  in  pruning  and  hoe- 
ing. The  pruning  was  here,  as  elsewhere,  universally 
in  the  spur  fashion  ;  from  3  to  7  or  8  knots  being  left 
on  each  vine,  according  to  its  strength.  The  stocks 
were  in  general  close  to  the  ground,  and,  indeed, 
where  the  soil  was  newly  dug  up,  and  gathered  up 
into  the  form  of  a  small  ridge  between  the  rows  of 
plants,  they  scarcely  seemed  to  be  upon  a  level  with 
it.  I  examined  a  plantation  of  young  vines  which 
had  been  planted  last  year,  and  found  that  more  than 
one  half  the  number  had  failed.  Here  also  they  never 
think  of  trenching  the  soil  before  planting ;  but  after 


82  JUVESALTES. 

hoeing  it  the  ordinary  depth,  they  make  a  hole  with 
an  iron  dibble  and  thrust  in  the  plant.  As  they  never 
afterwards  take  the  trouble  to  water  them,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  in  so  dry  a  soil  so  large  a  proportioi 
of  the  cuttings  should  never  take  root.  At  Rivesaltes 
for  the  first  time  in  France,  I  observed  them  manuring 
their  vines  with  strong  stable  dung,  and  I  was  inform- 
ed that  this  was  the  usual  practice  here,  although 
Messrs.  Durand  never  used  manure  to  their  vines. 
The  Muscat  is  the  grape  commonly  cultivated,  and 
by  visiting  different  parties  who  were  engaged  in 
pruning,  I  obtained  a  few  cuttings  of  this,  and  three 
other  sorts  ;  two  of  these  four  were  entirely  new  to 
me ;  of  two  of  them  I  had  procured  two  or  three  cut- 
tings each  at  Collioure. 

The  Muscat  wine  of  Rivesaltes  is  made  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner :  The  grapes  are  allowed  to  hang 
upon  the  vines  till  they  are  so  ripe  that  they  begin  to 
shrivel ;  they  are  then  cut  and  left  on  the  ground  un- 
der the  vines  where  they  grew,  for  eight  or  ten  days, 
unless  the  weather  should  prove  unfavourable,  after 
which  they  are  pressed,  and  the  juice  is  put  into  a 
cask,  leaving  the  bung  out ;  about  a  month  after  this, 
it  is  drawn  off  to  a  fresh  cask,  which  is  prepared  by 
burning  a  match,  not  of  sulphur,  but  of  strong  brown 
paper,  steeped  in  the  strongest  brandy.  They  use 
''this,  they  say,  because  the  sulphur  tastes  the  wine. 
The  Muscat  wine  of  Rivesaltes  sometimes  brings  the 
propi'ietor  300  francs  the  charge  of  118  litres  (bot- 
tles) when  it  is  only  from  one  to  two  years  old.  The 
produce  of  the  vineyards  of  Rivesaltes  was  stated  by 
the  small  proprietors,  from  whom  I  obtained  the  cut- 
tings, to  be  about  two  charges  for  every  500  stocks, 
exactly  the  same  as  was  stated  by  the  person  from 
whom  I  bought  the  wine  at  Collioure.  I  consider 
them  both,  however,  as  a  very  wide  guess,  for  it  was 
evident  neither  of  them  had  been  accustomed  to  reck- 
on the  produce  in  this  way,  and  they  neither  knew  the 
extent  of  the  hectare,  nor  of  the  arpent.  Many  of 
the  vines  here  seemed  to  require  renewal.  I  would 


DEPOT  OF  STALLIONS.  83 

have  been  inclined  to  say  owing  to  the  quality  of  the 
soil,  had  I  not  seen  the  excellent  condition  in  which 
Messrs.  Durand's  vines  were  kept,  in  soil  which  was 
in  some  places  not  less  stony  and  arid. 

In  filling  a  vacant  space,  when  they  cannot  find  a 
^hoot  on  any  of  the  neighbouring  vines  long  enough 
to  reach  the  spot,  they  take  the  longest  shoot  there  is. 
and  lay  it  in  a  circular  form  round  its  own  stock  ;  the 
following  year  they  raise  it,  when,  with  the  shoot  it 
has  produced,  they  can  not  only  reach  the  spot  to  be 
iilled.  but  have  by  this  means  a  strong  plant  to  fill  it. 

While  noting  above  the  use  of  a  match  with  brandy 
instead  of  sulphur,  there  has  occurred  to  my  memory  a  / 
an  observation  stated  by  Mr.  Mas,  in  reply  to  my  " 
question,  whether  they  did  not  find  the  burning  of  sul- 
phur in  the  cask  to  taste  the  wine  ?  He  stated  that 
when  this  occurred  it  must  be  owing  to  a  small  quan- 
tity of  water  having  been  left  in  the  cask  when  clean- 
ed. When  this  was  the  case,  the  wine,  he  said,  was 
sure  to  be  tasted,  because  the  sulphuric  acid  impreg- 
nated the  water ;  but  when  every  drop  of  water  was 
carefully  drained  off  before  the  cask  was  smoked,  it 
never  occurred. 

I  returned  to  Perpignan  about  four  o'clock,  and  be- 
gan to  ticket  the  different  bundks  of  vines,  taking 
only  25  of  each  of  the  varieties  sent  by  Mr.  Durand, 
on  account  of  their  great  bulk.  This,  and  other  little 
matters  which  required  arrangement,  occupied  me 
so  fully,  that  I  forgot  to  send  for  my  passport  till  it 
was  too  late  to  procure  it  for  the  diligence  that  night. 

Tuesday,  22nd  November. — My  delay  for  another 
day  in  Perpignnri  allowed  me  to  visit  the  Bergerie 
Royale,  where  the  government  keep  a  flock  of  Merino 
sheep  for  the  improvement  of  the  flocks  of  the  dis- 
trict. As  Mr.  Durand  had  assured  me  that  it  was 
not  worth  my  attention,  I  had  given  up  thoughts  of 
visiting  this  establishment  previously,  but  on  now  ap- 
plying to  my  landlord  for  a  horse,  he  told  me  that 
before  arriving  at  the  Bergerie,  I  would  come  to  the 
Royal  Haras,  or  depot  of  stallions  for  the  south.  At 


84  DEPOT  OP  STALLIONS. 

less  than  a  league  from  Perpignan,  I  accordingly  came 
to  the  house  and  offices  which  had  been  described  to 
me  as  this  depot,  and  on  riding  into  the  yard,  I  was 
conducted  by  a  groom  to  the  stable.  There  are  here 
31  horses,  kept  by  the  government  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  the  breed  in  this  part  of  France.  They 
are  chiefly  cross-bred,  and  I  remarked  several  very 
beautiful  animals  which  were  a  cross  between  the 
Arab  and  the  Limousin.  There  was  a  small  dark 
brown  Arab  from  St.  John  d'Acre,  and  next  to  him  a 
thorough-bred  Arab,  produced  in  France.  The  latter 
was  incomparably  the  finer  animal,  in  many  points 
resembling  old  Model,  of  New  South  Wales,  but  1 
think  inferior  to  him.  There  was  also  the  Jennet  of 
Andalusia,  and  a  number  of  Flemish  horses,  both  pure 
and  crossed  with  various  other  breeds.  The  Russian 
and  Polish  breeds  had  also  their  representatives  on 
this  side  of  the  stable.  On  the  other  side  were  the 
breeds  of  Normandy,  and  an  immense  animal  from 
Mecklenburgh,  for  improving,  as  they  said,  the  work- 
ing breeds.  Of  this  kind  there  were  three  huge 
horses,  which  appeared  to  me  ill  proportioned  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  be  almost  monstrous.  Further  on  was 
a  splendid  English  racer,  though  with  more  bone  alid 
muscle  than  the  horses  bred  for  the  turf  usually  pos- 
sess. This  horse  stood  higher  than  any  other  horse 
in  the  collection  ;  he  is  named  Rembrandt,  and  was 
purchased  by  the  French  government  from  lord  Sey- 
mour, at  Paris,  where  he  had  distinguished  himself  upon 
the  turf,  and  had  been  the  winner  of  large  sums.  There 
was  also  an  English  horse  of  the  little  Cob  breed,  and 
between  these  stood  some  very  fine  saddle  horses  of 
the  pure  breed  (I  think)  of  Limousin.  The  charge 
made  by  the  French  government  for  the  service  of 
any  of  these  horses  is  only  six  francs  for  each  mare. 
They  travel  to  the  distance  of  from  30  to  40  leagues, 
and  find  their  chief  employment  in  the  department  of 
Arriege.  Here  there  are  few  horses  bred,  the  work 
being  chiefly  performed  by  oxen  and  mules,  and  the 
ass  still  maintaining  its  ground,  though  not  to  such  an 


BEKGERIi:  ROYALE.  85 

extent  as  beyond  the  Pyrenees.  The  services  of  each 
horse  are  limited  to  45  mares;  but  notwithstanding  the 
extreme  cheapness  of  the  charge,  and  the  extensive 
district  over  which  they  travel,  scarcely  one  of  the 
horses  covers  this  number  during  the  season.  The 
horses  are  fed  at  all  seasons  with  meadow  hay  and 
ground  barley.  From  the  terrace  behind  the  stables 
there  is  a  rich  view  of  the'  plain  to  the  north  of  Per- 
pignan,  terminated  on  two  sides  by  the  Basses  Pyre- 
nees, and  on  the  third  by  the  sea.  It  is  said  that  there 
is  here  an  extent  of  land,  10  leagues  in  length  by  six 
in  breadth,  all  of  which  can  be  regularly  irrigated  by 
means  of  small  canals  and  water  courses,  which  are 
cut  in  every  direction.  The  distribution  of  the  water 
is  regulated  by  law.  The  old  chateau  of  Rousillon, 
with  its  round  tower,  overlooks  this  beautiful  plain. 
The  habitations  are  still,  for  the  most  part,  congrega- 
ted in  small  towns  and  villages,  but  here  and  there  a 
detached  house  is  to  be  seen.  The  plain  is  covered 
with  trees,  which  border  the  water  courses  in  every 
direction.  Among  these  the  Lombardy  poplar,  only 
now  assuming  the  tints  of  autumn,  is  conspicuous. 
Every  field  is  separated  by  a  row  of  trees,  chiefly  the 
willow.  These,  however,  on  a  nearer  approach,  lose 
much  of  their  beauty,  from  the  practice  of  cutting 
them  down  every  third  year  for  fuel,  leaving  only  the 
trunk  about  10  feet  in  height,  with  the  stumps  of  the 
branches,  to  produce  fresh  shoots. 

The  plain  of  Perpignan  offers  as  strong  a  contrast  as 
possible  to  the  (naturally)  much  richer  plains  of  Anda- 
lusia. Much  maybe  owing  to  the  difference  of  cli- 
mate, and  the  greater  facilities  for  irrigation ;  but 
much  more  is  owing  to  the  difference  in  the  political 
institutions  of  the  respective  countries.  The  absurd 
law  of  Spain,  which  prevents  the  enclosure  of  corn  or 
meadow  land,  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  agricultural 
improvement. 

On  arriving  at  the  bergerie,  which  is  a  shabby  looking 
cluster  of  old  houses  in  bad  repair,  I  was  informed 
that  the  sheep  were  out  at  pasture  ;  and  on  following 
8 


86  MONTPELIER. 

the  directions  given  me,  I  soon  came  up  with  them. 
There  are  160  rams,  and  about  300  females.  Their 
wool  is  certainly  much  finer  than  any  I  had  seen  at 
Mr.  Durand's,  but  still  there  are  few  of  our  sheephold- 
ers  in  New  South  Wales  who  could  not  show  finer 
sheep  in  their  flocks  than  the  generality  of  them.  The 
government  make  an  annual  sale  of  these  sheep.  The 
minimum  price  for  the  rams  is  60,  and  for  the  ewes 
40  francs.  A  very  few  of  those  offered  sometimes 
go  oft' at  much  higher  prices,  but  the  demand  is  not 
nearly  sufficient  to  take  off  those  that  are  disposable 
at  the  minimum  price.  I  saw  amongst  them  a  Saxon 
ram,  which  had  cost  the  government  600  francs.  Run- 
ning with  the  rams  were  a  male  and  two  females  of 
the  goats  of  Cashmere ;  the  male  was  a  very  large- 
animal,  with  long  white  hair ;  the  females  under  the 
size  of  an  ordinary  goat,  but  they  were  both  very 
young,  the  one  being  18  and  the  other  only  7  months 
old.  They  breed  when  under  12  months  ;  the  young- 
est of  the  two  being  expected  to  produce  a  kid  in 
four  months.  After  they  arc  three  years  old,  the 
shepherd  said,  (if  I  understood  him  right,  which  \vas 
no  easy  matter,  from  his  Catalan  dialect,)  that  they 
produce  four  kids  annually.  The  fine  Cashmere  wool 
is  produced  under  the  hair,  and  is  combed  out  in  the 
month  of  May.  The  large  male,  they  said,  yielded 
from  five  to  six  ounces,  and  the  females  only  two 
ounces  a  piece.  The  government,  the  shepherd  in- 
formed me,  possess  150  of  these  animals,  which  were 
formerly  all  here,  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  three 
which  I  saw,  they  were  removed  to  the  interior.  They 
were  brought  from  Persia  by  a  gentleman  of  Paris, 
who  started  with  a  flock  of  1,600,  only  150  of  which 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  to  France.  They  were  pur- 
chased by  the  government  at  the  price  of  3,000  francs 
a  head,  and  their  produce  were  for  some  time  offered 
for  sale  in  this  department,  but  found  no  purchasers. 
The  price  I  either  did  not  hear,  or  do  not  recollect. 

Wednesday,  23d — Last  evening,  at  seven  o'clock,  I 
took  my  place  in  the  diligence,  thg  director  having 


BOTAXIC  GAUDEN.  87 

freely  agreed  to  take  me  without  any  additional  charge, 
and  at  seven  this  evening  I  arrived  at  Montpelier.  In 
going  into  Beziers  about  nine  o'clock  this  morning,  I 
observed  hoar-frost  upon  the  grass  where  the  sun's 
rays  had  not  penetrated.  The  whole  country  from 
Beziers  to  Montpelier,  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  is  co- 
vered with  vineyards.  Between  the  former  town  and 
Penzenas  the  country  is  extremely  beautiful  even  at 
this  season.  The  hills  are  covered  with  olive  trees, 
intermixed  with  vines,  but  the  plains  with  vines  only. 
Detached  habitations  are  every  where  thickly  scatter- 
ed over  the  country.  The  vine  is  cultivated  even  in 
the  alluvial  plains ;  and  the  immense  size  of  some  of  the 
stocks,  with  the  vigour  of  their  numerous  shoots, 
affords  ample  evidence  that  whatever  may  be  the  qua- 
lity of  its  produce,  the  plant  itself  is  no  enemy  to  a  rich 
soil.  Notwithstanding  the  apparent  richness  of  the 
soil,  I  observed  them"  every  where  digging  in  large 
quantities  of  dung,  and  this,  as  well  as  the  mode  of 
pruning,  indicated  that  they  were  more  anxious  for 
the  quantity  than  the  quality  of  the  produce.  The 
wines  of  this  district  are  almost  universally  converted 
into  brandy.  The  soil  had  the  appearance  of  being 
calcareous  the  whole  way  from  Beziers  to  Montpelier, 
in  some  places  almost  resembling  the  albarizas  of 
Xeres,  but  on  trial  I  found  it  argillaceous. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  luxuriance  of  the  vines, 
and  the  strength  and  length  of  their  shoots,  still  no  sup- 
ports nor  props  were  used.  Here  and  there  I  observed 
the  shoots  of  three  neighbouring  vines  tied  together  to 
afford  each  other  support ;  but  even  this  practice  was 
rare  compared  to  the  whole,  which  are  allowed  to 
spread  as  they  will,  and  cover  the  ground  in  such  pro- 
fusion, as  to  make  it  in  most  places  difficult  to  pene- 
trate amongst  them. 

Thursday,  24th. — I  this  morning  proceeded  to  the 
Botanic  Garden,  in  the  hope  of  finding  some  one  who 
would  give  me  information  of  the  nature  I  required. 
My  expectations  were  also  a  good  deal  excited  by 
having  heard  from  an  Englishman  whom  I  met  at 


88  MONTPELIER. 

breakfast,  that  the  professor  of  botany  had  there  a 
collection  of  vines.  I  was  not  long  in  discovering  this 
collection,  which  was  numbered  up  to  560  varieties. 
I  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  inquire  for  the  profes- 
sor, and  lomake  known  to  him  the  object  of  my  visit. 
He  received  me  with  great  kindness,  and  asked  many 
questions  respecting  the  Australian  settlements,  in 
which  he  appeared  to  take  a  great  deal  of  interest. 
He  conducted  me  over  the  gardens,  and  through  the 
conservatories,  pointing  out  every  object  which  he 
thought  would  interest  me.  The  latter  are  very  ex- 
tensive, and  in  the  most  perfect  order.  Among  other 
plants  he  made  me  remark  the  Galactodendron,  the 
"  tree  of  the  cow,  or  milk  tree,"  of  Humboldt,  which 
he  said  would  undoubtedly  grow  in  New  South  Wales. 
He  also  pointed  out,  growing  in  the  open  air,  the  Ca- 
roubier  of  Spain,  the  Ceratonia  Siliqua  of  Linnaus, 
that  yields  a  pod,  upon  which  the  mules  are  almost 
exclusively  fed  in  the  mountainous  districts  of  Spain, 
and  the  south  of  Italy.  This  tree  I  had  not  so  much 
as  heard  of.  There  was  a  small  department  separate 
for  New  South  Wales  plants,  of  which  there  was  a 
considerable  number.  Finally,  Professor  Delisle  told 
me,  that  I  was  not  only  welcome  to  cuttings  of  all  the 
vines  he  had,  but  he  offered  me  his  correspondence 
for  any  thing  he  could  in  future  supply.  He  also  said 
he  would  make  up  a  packet  of  seeds  for  our  Botanic 
Garden.  In  return  for  such  liberality,  I  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  pledge  myself  to  make  him  whatever  returns 
our  Botanic  Garden  could  supply.  He  accordingly 
called  for  the  catalogue  of  vines,  which  was  partly 
printed,  being  a  copy  of  the  list  of  the  Ecole  of  vines 
established  in  the  Gardens  of  the  Luxemburg,  at  Paris, 
by  Messrs.  Chaptal  and  Bosc,  when  the  former  was 
Minister  of  the  Interior.  A  great  proportion  of  the 
numbers  which  had  been  left  blank  in  the  original, 
were  filled  up  in  writing.  He  gave  directions  that  a 
copy  of  the  list  should  be  prepared  for  me,  and  that  a 
man  should  attend  me  to  take  the  cuttings  of  the 


BOTANIC  GARDEN.  89 

vines.     I  determined  to  take  a  duplicate  of  each  va- 
riety. 

Saturday,  26th  November. — Having  ordered  a  quan- 
tity of  leaden  tickets  to  mark  the  cuttings,  and  a 
couple  of  cases  to  contain  them,  I  proceeded  to  the 

farden  yesterday  morning,  and  found  that  the  man 
ad  already  commenced  to  take  off  the  cuttings.  On 
examining  those  he  had  taken,  however,  I  immediate- 
ly saw  the  necessity  of  making  the  choice  for  myself, 
and  I  have  accordingly  been  engaged  all  yesterday 
and  to-day  in  choosing  the  cuttings.  This  evening, 
by  the  assistance  of  a  second  man,  who  dressed  the 
cuttings  as  they  were  taken  off,  we  had  finished  this 
part  of  the  task,  and  commenced  attaching  the  num- 
bers. 

Monday,  28th. — This  day,  at  an  early  hour,  I  pro- 
ceeded to  the  garden,  expecting  to  have  all  the  vines 
numbered  and  packed  before  the  evening.  In  this, 
however,  I  was  disappointed.  While  the  workmen 
were  at  dinner  I  spent  an  hour  with  the*  Professor, 
who  showed  me  his  Herbarium,  which  appeared  to 
rne  very  extensive.  Among  others,  he  opened  out 
some  New  Holland  plants,  which  had  been  collected 
by  Laballardiere,  the  botanist,  who  accompanied 
D'Entrecasteaux  in  his  voyage.  In  reply  to  my  in- 
quiries respecting  the  history  of  the  vines,  the  object 
to  me  of  greatest  interest,  he  informed  me,  that  about 
12  or  15  years  ago,  when  Messrs.  Chaptal  and  Bosc 
had  formed  the  gardens  of  the  Chartreuse,  adjoining 
the  gardens  of  the  Luxemburg,  into  an  experimental 
garden,  specimens  of  the  different  varieties  were  also 
sent  to  the  Botanic  Garden  of  Montpelier,  but  many 
of  these  never  succeeded.  He  told  me  that  he  had 
found  it  very  difficult  to  obtain  from  the  chief  garden- 
er at  Paris  the  different  varieties  which  he  required  to 
fill  up  the  vacancies  occasioned  by  those  which  had 
failed ;  they  always  sent  chasselas,  chasselas,  chasse- 
las,  though  under  different  names.  A  great  part  of 
the  collection  had  therefore  been  brought  together 
by  the  Professor  himself.  Mr.  Delisle  told  me  that 
8* 


99  MONTPELIER. 

there  was  a  similar  collection  of  vines  at  Versailles, 
and  there  was  also  one  at  Genoa. 

All  this  day  was  employed  in  attaching  the°tickets 
to  the  vines,  and  arranging  them  in  bundles,  which, 
from  many  of  them  being  very  crooked,  was  no  easy 
task.  From  the  560  varieties  I  could  only  make  up 
437.  the  remainder  being  either  wanting  in  the  ori- 
ginal, or  as  identical  with  some  previous  number.  I 
had  also  employed  the  master  gardener  to  send  a  man 
on  whose  judgment  and  honesty  he  could  depend,  to 
make  a  collection  of  all  the  vines  cultivated  in  the 
vineyards  round  Montpelier.  This  man  had,  all  his 
lifetime,  been  employed  in  the  vineyards  ;  and  as  he 
gave  me  a  description  of  the  qualities  of  each,  I  had 
no  doubt  whatever  that  his  collection  might  be  depend- 
ed upon.  Rejecting,  from  those  he  brought  me,  such 
varieties  as  I  had  previously  procured  at  Perpignan,  I 
was  now  enabled  to  carry  the  collection  of  vines  of 
Rousillon  ajid  Languedoc,  or  Pyrenees  Orientales  and 
Herault,  toteS.  I  here  again  reduced  the  number  of 
Mr.  Duranfi's  vines,  taking  only  12  of  each  of  them,  as 
well  as  or  those  cultivated  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Montpelier.  When  I  came  to  pay  for  their  carriage 
from  Montpelier  to  Nismes,  I  had  no  reason  to  regret 
this  reduction. 

Wednesday,  30th  November. — It  was  half  past  10 
this  morning,  when  the  packing  of  the  vines  was 
finished,  and  at  11  o'clock  I  started  with  them  by  the 
diligence  for  Nismes.  Before  leaving  the  garden,  I 
paid  a  farewell  visit  to  its  liberal  Director,  Mr.  De- 
lisle.  I  now  received  from  him  a  letter  addressed  to 
Mr.  Frazer,  the  Colonial  Botanist,  at  Sydney,  and  also 
one  for  myself.  In  both  he  expressed  his  wish  to 
maintain  a  correspondence  with  Sydney,  to  recipro- 
cate the  exchange  of  seeds  and  plants.  He  also  gave 
me  an  introductory  note  to  M.  Audibert,  the  propri- 
etor of  a  very  extensive  and  celebrated  nursery  at 
Tarascon,  a  small  town  situated  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhone,  which  he  strongly  recommended  me  to 
visit.  A  fourth  paper  contained  hints  about  the  best 


NISMES.  91 

mode  of  preserving  the  cuttings  from  frost  and  damp ; 
but  on  that  subject  he  recommended  me  particularly 
-to  coFw»lt*M.  Audibert.  -  Mr. -Befhrtu"  had  also  wait- 
ing for  me  a  packet  of  botanic  seeds,  which  he  had 
put  up  for  the  garden  at  Sydney ;  and  a  packet  of 
seeds  of  the  more  useful  trees,  &c.  for  myself. 

The  Botanic  Garden  of  Montpelier  is  only  second 
in  France  to  that  of  Paris.  It  appeared  to  me  to  be 
kept  in  very  high  order. 

The  weather  has  now  become  piercingly  cold.  On 
Friday  and  Saturday  I  found  it  very  unpleasantly  so  in 
the  garden,  but  on  Sunday  evening  a  strong  wind  set  in 
from  the  north,  and  next  day  all  Montpelier  was  wrapt 
in  cloaks.  The  sloping  glass  roofs  and  windows  of 
the  conservatories  were  now  all  covered  with  straw 
mats,  which  were  not  rolled  up  till  the  sun  had  attain- 
ed a  considerable  height. 

The  road  from  Montpelier  to  Nismes  lies  through  a 
well  cultivated  country,  producing  chiefly  vines  and 
olives.  The  vines  appear  here  to  be  cultivated  for 
wine  for  the  table  more  than  for  distillation.  Their 
size  and  strength  were  less  remarkable  than  on  the 
other  side  of  Montpelier  ;  and  although  I  saw  several 
parties  hoeing  in  the  vineyards,  I  could  nowhere  ob- 
serve them  digging  in  manure.  Here  for  the  first 
time  I  saw  the  mixed  cultivation  of  vines,  olives,  and 
corn,  alternating  in  rows  of  different  widths ;  and  the 
vineyards  are  also  very  generally  planted  with  olive 
trees.  This  seems  to  be  the  season  for  gathering  the 
fruit  of  the  latter.  They  place  large  ladders  against 
the  trees,  and  ascend  to  pull  them,  instead  of  beating 
them  down  with  poles,  as  is  the  practice  in  Spain. 
The  women  are  very  generally  employed  in  this  way, 
and  from  all  parts  of  the  road  are  to  be  seen  with 
small  baskets  slung  round  their  necks,  either  perched 
upon  a  ladder,  or  mounted  into  the  interior  of  the 
trees.  Half  way  from  Montpelier  to  Nismes  lies  the 
town  of  Lunel,  which,  with  Frontigran,  also  in  the  same 
neighbourhood,  is  famous  for  its  sweet  wines.  These 

I  did  not.  however,  wait  to  visit,  being  now  satisfied 

0 


92  NURSERY  OF  TARASCOX. 

that  whatever  may  be  the  case  with  regard  to  the 
quality  of  dry  wines,  it  requires  only  a  good  grape,  a 
hot  sun,  and  a  particular  management,  to  make  ex- 
cellent sweet  wines.  A  gentleman  in  the  diligence 
informed  me  that  the  Lunel  is  only  produced  on  one 
estate,  but  in  this  I  think  he  was  misinformed. 

1st  December. — The  diligence  for  Tarascon  not 
starting  till  half  past  eleven,  I  had  time  to  visit  many 
of  the  beautiful  and  highly  interesting  remains  of 
Roman  architecture  which  are  to  be  found  in  Nismes. 
The  cold,  last  night  and  this  morning,  has  been  ex- 
cessive. I  have  seldom  found  any  thing  more  keen 
and  penetrating  than  the  north  wind  out  of  doors,  and 
the  air  of  my  chamber  was  almost  intolerable  till  a 
large  fire  (for  which  the  charge  of  two  francs  was 
made  in  my  bill)  had  been  some  time  burning.  Even 
then,  and  with  the  assistance  of  a  screen,  it  was  still 
difficult  to  keep  off  the  cold.  The  tiled  floors  are  ill 
calculated  for  the  winter,  however  suitable  they  may 
be  for  the  summer  temperature  of  these  climates.  In 
the  morning  the  canal  was  frozen  over,  and  there  were 
pieces  of  ice  of  six  cubic  inches  in  thickness  about 
the  fountains. 

I  arrived  at  Tarascon  about  half  past  two  o'clock, 
and  having  procured  a  guide,  proceeded  immediately 
to  the  nursery  of  the  Messrs.  Audibert,  whom  I  found 
at  home.  The  nursery  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  town.  Messrs.  Audibert  expressed  the  greatest 
desire  to  be  of  service  to  me.  One  of  the  brothers 
conducted  me  through  a  great  part  of  their  nurseries, 
which  are  extensive,  and  apparently  very  well  kept. 
He  also  insisted  that  I  should  remain  for  the  night, 
and  made  up  a  packet  of  every  variety  of  seeds  which 
they  could  imagine  would  be  useful  in  New  South 
Wales.  The  elder  brother,  M.  Urban  Audibert,  is  a 
corresponding  member  of  the  Horticultural  Society 
of  London,  and  has,  as  M.  Delisle  informed  me,  a 
very  extensive  correspondence  in  all  parts  of  Europe. 
His  library  is  filled  with  books  on  all  matters  connect- 
ed with  rural  economy  and  natural  history,  in  all  Ian- 


TAKASCOBT.  93 

guages.  I  selected  from  their  list  of  vines  eight  or 
ten  varieties,  which  I  either  knew  to  be  wanting  in 
M.  Delisle's  collection,  or  conceived  to  be  so  valuable, 
that  I  was  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  making  still 
surer  of  possessing  them.  These,  being  rooted  plants, 
will  afford  the  proof  whether  they  or  the  cuttings  are 
more  capable  of  bearing  the  transport  to  New  South 
Wales. 

Having,  according  to  the  advice  of  M.  Delisle,  con- 
sulted Messrs.  Audibert  respecting  the  packing  of  the 
plants,  he  expressed  his  fear  that  without  moss  they 
would  soon  all  die  ;  for  the  north  wind,  he  observed, 
caused  dryness  as  much  as  the  heat ;  his  brother  was 
accordingly  kind  enough  to  accompany  me  to  the 
town,  with  a  man  who  carried  a  bag  ot  moss.  The 
plants  were  unpacked,  and  the  boxes  lined  with  double 
oiled  paper,  to  prevent  the  access  of  air,  and  the  es- 
cape of  humidity.  The  moss,  after  having  been 
slightly  watered,  was  stuffed  in  at  the  ends  of  each 
bundle  of  plants.  The  latter  were  then  replaced,  and 
the  cases  closed.  This  is  the  mode  adopted  by  Messrs. 
Audibert  in  sending  vine  plants  to  Russia  and  other 
countries  of  Europe  ;  and  they  were  of  opinion  that 
this  would  be  sufficient  to  protect  the  vines  till  their 
arrival  within  the  tropics,  when  the  warm  weather 
would  cause  them  to  shoot,  and  it  would  therefore 
become  desirable  to  sustain  the  shoots  a  little  by  the 
admixture  of  earth  or  sand  among  the  cuttings. 

Messrs.  Audibert  refused  to  receive  any  payment 
for  the  plants  I  had  selected  from  their  collection, 
although  I  insisted  very  strongly  on  paying  the  stated 
price,  as  well  as  for  the  time  his  workman  was  occu- 
pied. He  furnished  me  with  several  copies  of  his 
catalogues  ;  and  as  I  had  informed  him  there  was  an 
Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Society  in  New  South 
Wales,  he  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  be  put  in  com- 
munication  with  them.  M.  Audibert  also  furnished 
me  with  introductory  letters  to  the  Directors  of  the 
Botanic  Garden,  and  of  the  Cabinet  of  Natural  His- 
tory at  Marseilles. 


94  MARSEILLES. 

I  concluded  these  matters  in  time  to  join  the  dili- 
gence for  Marseilles,  which  passed  at  half  past  two, 
having,  by  Mr.  Audibert's  advice,  forwarded  the  cases 
containing  the  plants  to  Avignon,  there  to  wait  my 
return  to  that  town. 

I  had  several  times  endeavoured,  but  without  suc- 
cess, to  ascertain  the  best  mode  of  pickling  or  pre- 
serving olives.  Mr.  Audibert  told  me  he  had  no 
doubt  the  innkeeper  where  I  had  left  my  baggage 
could  inform  me  ;  and  I  took  down  from  his  dictation 
the  directions,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation. 
The  olives  which  he  produced  as  preserved  in  this 
way  were  of  an  inferior  kind,  but  appeared  very  well 

cured.     " To  make  a  lye,  take  for  each  pound  of 

olives  a  pound  of  ashes  and  an  ouncfe  of  lime ;  boil 
these  ingredients  in  water  till  the  lye  is  neither  too 
thick,  nor  too  clear. 

"  When  the  flesh  of  the  olives  detaches  itself  easily 
from  the  stone,  which  happens  about  six  or  seven 
hours  after  their  immersion,  the  olives  are  washed 
with  clear  water,  and  left  to  steep  for  about  nine 
days,  the  water  being  changed  at  least  once  every  24 
hours.  They  are  then  kept  in  water,  strongly  charg- 
ed with  salt,  and  seasoned  with  a  few  grains  of  cori- 
ander seed,  to  give  them  a  good  taste." 

This  recipe  was  scarcely  finished  at  the  moment  it 
was  necessary  to  join  the  diligence,  and  I  had  not 
therefore  time  to  read  it,  much  less  to  ask  such  ques- 
tions as  are  necessary  to  make  it  fully  intelligible. 
The  lye  is  doubtless  intended  to  free  the  olives  from 
the  bitterness  natural  to  them  when  fresh. 

Saturday,  3d  December. — At  an  early  hour  this 
morning  I  arrived  at  Marseilles.  My  object  in  com- 
ing to  this  city  was  to  visit  the  districts  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood, where  the  raisins  and  other  dried  fruits  of 
Provence  are  prepared. 

I  lost  no  time  in  waiting  upon  M.  Negrel  Ferand, 
the  Director  of  the  Cabinet  of  Natural  History,  whom 
I  found  not  only  very  ready,  but  extremely  well  quali- 
fied, to  give  me  the  information  I  required.  He  said 


MARSEILLES.  95 

that  almost  the  only  district  where  raisins  were  made 
for  exportation  was  Roquevaire,  which  was  his  native 
place,  and  to  which  he  gave  me  a  letter. 

M.  Negrel  Ferand  has  contributed  the  division  that 
treats  upon  Agriculture  and  Rural  Economy,  to  a 
quarto  work  now  publishing  in  four  volumes,  on  the 
Statistics  of  the  Provence  of  Bouches  du  Rhone. 

Being  anxious  to  obtain  the  volume  which  treated 
upon  this  subject,  he  told  me  that  I  could  not  purchase 
it  without  the  others,  and  that  the  whole  work  was 
not  yet  complete  ;  but  he  very  good  naturedly  gave 
me  his  own  proof  sheets.  This  work  contains  a  de- 
tailed classification  and  botanical  description  of  the 
vines  cultivated  in  the  department  of  Bouches  du 
Rhone,  or  Provence,  to  the  number  of  74.  The  whole 
number  which  exists  is  stated  to  be  about  350,  but  the 
above  are  all  that  are  considered  valuable  for  cultiva- 
tion. The  most  of  the  others  are  cultivated  in  gar- 
dens and  nurseries  more  as  an  object  of  curiosity  than 
usefulness.  Of  the  3»4  varieties,  220  have  been  per- 
fectly identified  with  those  bearing  the  same  names  in 
the  collection  of  the  Luxemburg. 

In  speaking  of  the  olive,  M.  Xegrel  Ferand  said, 
that  its  mode  of  bearing  is  biennial ;  that  is.  that  the 
young  wood  must  be  two  years  old  before  it  bears 
fruit.  This  accounts  for  the  pruning  every  two  years, 
and  the  frequent  deficiency  in  the  cro;>  every  second 
year.  He  said  it  was  a  point  on  which  there  existed 
much  difference  of  opinion,  whether  it  were  better  to 
prune  the  trees  partially  every  year,  and  thus  to  have 
always  a  quantity  of  bearing  wood,  or  to  prune  them 
full}'  -cond  year,  and  have  a  full  crop  once  in 

two  years.  In  this  part  of  the  country  the  olive  is 
subject  to  great  injuries  from  the  severity  of  the 
weather :  a  great  part  of  the  trees  in  a  whole  district 
being  occasionally  cut  off  by  the  frost  of  a  single 
night  The  roots  still  remain,  however,  and  are  not 
long  in  sending  up  strong  shoots  :  but  the  trees  in  this 
part  of  the  country  never  attain  to  any  great  magni- 
tude. When  the  crop  of  olives  is  very  small,  they 


DC  RAISINS  AND  OTHER 

are  generally  attacked  by  insects.  The  annual  ave- 
rage quantity  of  oil  produced  from  each  tree  is  only 
about  two  quarts.  The  best  oil  for  eating  is  extract- 
ed cold  ;  what  is  extracted  by  warm  water  is  used  for 
burning,  and  for  soap,  and  other  manufactures.  The 

011  of  Marseilles  is  certainly  more  pure  and  beautiful 
than  I  have  elsewhere  seen  it.  The  finest  oil  of  France 
is  produced  at  Aix,  eight  leagues  north  of  Marseilles.' 

I  walked  with  M.  Negrel  to  the  Botanic  Garden, 
for  the  Director  of  which  I  had  also  a  letter.  The 
garden  is  neither  extensive,  nor  particularly  well  fur- 
nished. The  Conservatory  is  handsome,  but  is  too 
large  to  be  easily  heated.  The  collection  of  plants  is 
insignificant  compared  with  that  of  Montpelier.  I 
saw  a  swamp  oak,  a  pretty  large  tree,  and  a  splendid 
specimen  of  the  caoutchouc,  in  the  conservatory.  A 
specimen  of  the  latter  in  the  open  air  had  been  killed 
by  the  frosts  of  the  preceding  week,  notwithstanding 
its  having  been  wrapped  up  with  straw  mats. 

Monday,  5lh  December. — Having  engaged  a  cabrio- 
let and  a  guide  from  my  maitre  d'kotel,  I  proceeded 
at  an  early  hour  to  Roquevaire  ;  the  distance  is  about 

12  or  14  miles  in  an  easterly  direction.     The  road 
almost  every  where  proceeded  among  steep  acclivi- 
ties, through  a  country  which  the  industry  of  man 
has  won  from  its  original  barrenness,  and  which  is  on 
all  sides  cultivated  like  a  garden,  with  every  variety 
of  produce.     The  hills,  or  rather  mountains,  which 
bounded  the  horizon  to  the  right,  formed  a  very  rug- 
ged and  picturesque  back-ground  to  this  picture  of 
industry.     There  is  scarce  a  spot  which,  by  any  de- 
gree of  labour,  could  be  gained  from  the  rocks,  that  is 
not  under  cultivation  ;  and  the  same  field  frequently 
bears  at  the  same  time  a  triple  crop  ;  first  is  a  triple 
or  quadruple  row  of  vines,  then  an  open  space  from  6 
to  12  feet  wide,  under  corn  or  legumes  ;  (and  I  could 
not  but  observe  the  garden   pea  several  inches  above 
the  soil,  and  perfectly  uninjured,  notwithstanding  the 
severity  of  the  late  frosts  ;)  lastly,  there  is,  with  every 
third  row  of  vines,  a  row  of  olives,  and  not  unfr«- 


DRIED  FRUITS  OP  PROVENCE.          97 

quently  the  whole  is  surrounded  by  a  hedge  of  mul- 
berries. The  same  system  is  pursued  on  the  sides  of 
hills  so  steep,  that  it  is  necessary  at  every  12  feet  to 
have  a  wall  three  feet  in  height.  Notwithstanding 
the  natural  ruggedness  and  poverty  of  this  country,  it 
appears  to  be  every  where  teeming  with  a  fine,  healthy, 
and  well  fed  population. 

Between  1 1  and  1 2  o'clock  I  arrived  at  the  house 
of  M.  Brest,  the  gentleman  to  whom,  in  the  absence 
of  the  Mayor,  M.  Negrel  had  given  me  a  letter.  Be- 
sides being  a  proprietor  of  land,  M.  Brest  is  an  exten- 
sive soap  manufacturer  and  merchant ;  his  premises 
are  very  extensive,  and  comprise  a  great  variety  of 
accommodation.  In  several  of  the  rooms  on  the 
ground  floor,  women  were  employed  in  packing  rai- 
sins into  boxes  and  frails,  similar  in  every  respect  to 
those  used  at  Malaga,  and  the  prices  of  the  raisins 
appeared  also  to  approach  very  near  to  those  of  that 
place.  ' 

The  first  quality  is  made  from  the  Pause,  or  Passe, 
a  largish  white  grape,  but  by  no  means  so  large  \\ 
some 'others.  The  skin  is  rather  fine  than  hard ;  the 
bunches  are  sometimes  very  large,  although  M.  Brest  ' 
informed  me,  that  they  are  reduced  in  drying  to  one 
fourth  of  their  original  weight.  The  second  quality 
is  from  the  Arignan  :  the  raisins  of  this  grape  are  •'' 
equally  well  flavoured,  and  keep  as  well,  but  are 
smaller.  When  the  former  are  thirty  francs  the  quin- 
tal  of  100  pounds,  the  latter  are  only  from  20  to  25. 
The  third  quality  consists  of  the  smaller  and  loose 
pes  of  the  others,  which  are  packed  in  frails  ;  they 
are  worth  from  15  to  18  francs  per  quintal.  The 
aisins  of  Roquevaire  are  packed  in  boxes,  containing 
12,25,  and  50  pounds,  as  at  Malaga;  but  between 
every  two  inches  in  thickness  of  grapes  they  spread  a 
sheet  of  white  paper.  These  raisins,  M.  Brest  says, 
keep  the  whole  year  through.  They  are  certainly, 
in  every  respect,  inferior  to  the  raisins  in  Malaga. 
Their  preparation  invariably  consists  in  immersion  in 
a  boiling  lye  previous  to  drying.  They  do  not  ap- 
0 


98  DRIED  FRUITS 

pear  to  be  aware  that  it  is  possible  to  preserve  the 
raisins  without  this  previous  preparation.  M.  Negrel 
says,  the  effect  of  the  lye,  in  which  they  are  kept  from 
15  to  20  seconds,  is  to  open  very  fine  cracks  in  the 
skin  of  the  grapes,  by  which  cracks  the  moisture  eva- 
porates. The  strength  of  the  lye  is  of  the  fifth  de- 
gree of  Beaume's  hydrometer,  which  is  equal  in  spe- 
cific gravity,  at  the  temperature  of  55  of  Fahrenheit, 
to  about  1.032.  After  having  been  dipped  in  this  lye. 
the  grapes  are  spread  out  on  claies,  which  consist  of 
a  number  of  reeds  tied  together,  so  as  to  form  a  flat 
surface  of  about  seven  feet  by  four.  They  are  brought 
under  cover  every  night,  and  if  the  season  is  fine, 
they  are  usually  sufficiently  dried  in  five  days,  though 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  season  it  sometimes  requires 
een  ^a^s  to  ^ry  them  sufficiently.  The  preparation 
raisins  commences  about  the  25th  of  August,  and 
ntinues  during  the  whole  of  September,  and  some- 
times  as  late  as  the  1st  of  November.  Those  raisins 
are  finest  which  are  dried  in  the  shortest  time.  The 
neighbourhood  of  Roquevaire  is  the  only  part  of 
France  where  dried  raisins  are  prepared  as  an  article 
of  commerce ;  in  other  parts  they  are  cured  by  parti- 
cular individuals  for  their  own  consumption.  The 
Pause  Musque,  or  Muscat  of  Alexandria,  is  also 
found  in  this  district ;  but  although  M.  Negrel  says  it 
is  the  identical  v'ariety  which  yields  the  Muscatel 
raisins  of  Malaga,  and  though  he  strongly  recom--, 
mends  it  to  cultivators  in  preference  to  the  others,  it 
is  very  seldom  made  into  raisins.  M.  Brest  says, 
the  thickness  of  its  skin  makes  it  very  difficult  to  dry 
it  in  this  climate.  M.  Negrel  also  says,  that  the  Pause 
Musqu£  is  less  cultivated  than  the  Panse,  because  it 
is  very  delicate  in  flowering,  and  frequently  blights. 
He  says,  however,  that  this  may.  be  remedied  by  pru- 
ning it  long,  and  cultivating  it  in  a  trellis  ;  the  com- 
mon Panse  also  requires  to  be  pruned  rather  long. 
The  whole  quantity  of  raisins  of  the  first  quality  pro- 
duced for  sale  in  Provence,  does  not,  in  the  average 
of  years,  exceed  4,000  quintals,  (400,000  pounds.) 


©F  PROVENCE.  99 

According  to  M.  Brest,  the  preparation  of  raisins  is 
uearly  on  a  par,  as  far  as  regards  profit,  with  the 
making  of  wine.  During  the  continental  war,  when  it 
was  impossible  to  import  the  raisins  of  Malaga  and 
Calabria,  those  of  Provence  were  in  much  greater 
demand,  and  their  cultivation  was  much  more  pro- 
fitable. 

M.  Brest  had  also  a  large  quantity  of  figs  packed  in 
boxes,  and  ready  for  packing.  The  preparation  of 
these  consist  simply  in  drying  them  on  the  dales  for 
four  or  five  days  after  they  are  pulled.  The  flat  form 
which  most  of  them  have  is  given  them  in  the  boxes, 
each  fig  being  separately  pressed  into  the  box.  The 
larger  and  smaller  figs  are  packed  in  separate  boxes, 
and  the  finest  quality  is  double  the  price  of  the  inferior. 
Nothing  can  be  more  simple  than  the  drying  and 
packing  of  figs.  M.  Negrel  Ferand  describes  sixty- 
seven  varieties  of  figs  which  are  cultivated  in  the  de- 
partment of  Bouches  du  Rhone.  He  quotes  two  au- 
thors, De  Solier  and  Raymond,  showing  how  much 
the  cultivation  of  this  fruit  had  fallen  eff  within  the 
last  two  centuries.  The  former,  who  wrote  in  the 
IGth  century,  after  describing  the  means  then  pursued 
in  drying  them,  adds,  "  that  those  of  the  inhabitants 
who  had  least,  could  sell  from  100  to  150  quintals," 
(from  10,000  to  15,000  pounds.)  "  Two  centuries  la- 
ter," the  latter  says,  "  the  quantity  of  figs  which  the 
inhabitants  dried  formerly  was  their  principal  pro- 
duce, but  now  each  proprietor  only  gathers  about  40 
quintals,  (4,000  pounds,)  not  more  than  enough  for 
the  consumption  of  his  own  family  !" 

The  next  object  which  attracted  my  attention,  was 
a  quantity  of  large  earthen  jafs,  capable  of  containing 
from  40  to  60  gallons  each.  These  were  filled  with 
capers  of  different  sizes,  from  the  size  of  a  small  nut 
to  that  of  a  very  small  pea,  or,  rather,  to  half  the  size 
of  a  very  small  pea.  The  latter  are  called  Nonpareils, 
and  are  worth  32  sous  (16d.)  a  pound.  The  former, 
being  the  coarsest  quality,  are  worth  only  3  sous  a 
pound.  Between  these  extremes  there  are  8  or  10 


100  DRIED  FRUITS 

different  qualities,  all  varying  in  price  according  to 
their  size,  the  smaller  being  always  the  more  valuable. 
They  are  put  into  vinegar  as  soon  as  they  are  gather- 
ed, after  the  different  sizes  are  separated  by  means 
of  a  succession  of  coarser  or  finer  sieves ;  and  they 
need  no  other  preparation.  I  observed  a  quantity  of 
olives  spread  out  upon  some  claies  on  the  floor ;  they 
did  not  appear  to  have  suffered  in  any  degree  from  the 
worm,  as  was  the  case  with  most  of  the  other  olives 
I  had  seen.  Many  of  them  still  retained'  a  greenish, 
or,  rather,  a  whitish  colour,  while  the  majority  were 
either  of  a  deep  .purple  colour,  or  perfectly  black. 
M.  Brest  said,  these  light-coloured  olives,  pressed  se- 
parately, would  yield  a  finer  oil  than  the  others, 
though  less  in  quantity. 

From  the  apartments  where  the  dried  fruits  were  in 
process  of  packing,  M.  Brest  conducted  me  through 
his  soap  manufactory,  which  is  on  a  considerable 
scale,  soap  being  one  of  the  most  important  manufac- 
tures of  Marseilles,  and  being  made  chiefly  with  the 
inferior  kinds  of  olive  oil ;  thence  to  a  saw-mill,  turn- 
ed by  water,  and  finally,  to  a  room  heated  by  steam 
for  the  treatment  of  silk  worms.  M.  Brest  next  took 
me  through  the  plantation  adjoining  his  buildings,  to 
show  me  how  the  caper  is  cultivated.  At  present 
the  bushes  are  all  covered  with  soil  to  prevent  them 
being  destroyed  by  the  frost ;  and  preparatory  to  this 
they  had  been  pruned  down  to  the  length  of  from  6  to 
12  inches  each  branch  or  shoot.  In  the  spring  they 
are  cut  down  close  to  the  stock,  so  that  every  year 
produces  new  branches.  The  bushes  which  yield  the 
caper,  if  well  treated,  will  last  for  40  years ;  they 
yield  on  an  average  one  pound  and  a  half  of  capers, 
though  some  of  the  very  strong  bushes  will  occasion- 
:i!ly  yield  from  five  to  six  pounds.  The  caper  is  the 
flower  bud  before  its  development ;  the  largest  and 
least  valuable  grow  near  the  bottom  of  the  branch,  the 
smallest  at  the  top.  They  are  gathered  by  women 
at  the  expense  of  a  half  penny  a  pound.  The  bushes 
are  about  four  feet  apart ;  they  are  propagated  by 


•OF  PROVENCE.  101 

means  of  offsets  from  the  roots,  two  of  which  offsets 
were  presented  to  me  by  M.  Brest.  On  opening  the 
box  which  contained  these  offsets  in  London,  I  had 
the  mortification  to  find  that  they  had  both  perished. 
Having  expressed  my  desir«  to  procure  cuttings  of 
the  grapes  which  are  dried  for  raisins,  and  of  any 
other  sort  cultivated  in  the  district  which  I  had  not 
already  procured,  M.  Brest  sent  a  boy  to  conduct 
me  to  a  property  of  his  own,  with  a  message  to  the 
fermier  to  give  me  the  different  kinds  I  wanted.  He 
observed  that  he  would  have  accompanied  me  him- 
self, had  he  not  been  very  busy  packing  up  a  quantity 
of  fruits  which  were  required  to  be  sent  off  imme- 
diately. The  whole  of  the  ground  over  which  I  went 
is  cultivated  like  a  garden.  In  many  places  the  vines 
are  only  planted  along  the  edges  of  the  terraces, 
which  are  every  where  built  to  support  the  soil.  The 
caper  is  very  generally  cultivated  in  this  district.  The 
fermier  was  not  at  home,  but  soon  arrived.  He  gave 
me  cuttings  of  six  new  varieties,  a  dozen  of  each. 
The  vines  are  pruned,  leaving  on  each  shoot  two  buds, 
exclusive  of  the  one  at  the  junction.  These  are  the 
vines  which  yield  the  grapes  for  drying ;  there  were 
from  two  to  three  shoots  on  each  vine  pruned  in  this 
manner. v  The  fermier  said,  that  each  vine  produced 
from  8  to  12  bunches.  According  to  M.  Brest,  the 
ground  in  this  district  is  all  trenched  to  the  depth  of 
'Z\  or  3  feet  before  planting,  but  they  do  not  put 
in  the  cutting  the  whole  of  this  depth.  M.  Negrel 
states,  that  it  has  been  observed  that  the  roots  come 
from  the  two  buds  nearest  to  the  surface  only,  and 
that  the  lower  part  of  the  cutting  imparts  to  the  re- 
mainder a  portion  of  its  decay.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  sweet  wine  made  in  this  neighbourhood,  chiefly 
from  a  variety  of  the  Muscat  grape.  The  wines  of 
Provence,  or  Bouches  du  Rhone,  are  not  celebrated, 
nor  do  they  appear  to  be  known  as  well  as  they  de- 
serve to  be.  They  have  never  furnished  many  choice 
wines  for  commerce  ;  but  M.  Negrel  says,  many  pro- 
prietors make  them  of  excellent  quality,  when  they 
9* 


102  HERMITAGE. 

take  some  trouble  to  have  them  good  for  their  own 
consumption.  I  returned,  after  an  excursion  of  an 
hour  and  a  half,  to  the  house  of  M.  Brest,  who  press- 
ed me  to  remain  for  the  night,  and  return  to  Mar- 
seilles next  day ;  but  this  kindness  my  anxiety  to  get 
forward  induced  me  to  decline  ;  and,  after  partaking 
of  some  fruit  and  wine,  I  returned  to  Marseilles. 

Tuesday,  Glh  December. — During  the  course  of  this 
day  I  visited  M.  Negrel.  He  is  now  engaged  in  re- 
moving the  collections  of  Natural  History  to  a  new 
Museum.  I  was  happy  to  be  able  to  promise  that  I 
would  send  him  from  London  a  stuffed  Ornithorhyn- 
chus  paradoxus  and  a  few  shells.  M.  Negrel  is  only 
pro  tempore  Director  of  the  Cabinet  of  Natural  His- 
tory at  Marseilles  ;  M.  Roux,  who  holds  that  appoint- 
ment permanently,  being  at  present  travelling  in  the 
East  Indies  with  a  German  naturalist.  M.  N.  said  it 
was  probable  they  might  visit  New  Holland,  in  which 
case  he  recommended  them  to  my  attentions.  Through 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  Gower,  an  English  merchant,  to 
whom  I  had  brought  a  letter  of  introduction,  I  pro- 
cured letters  to  Valence,  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Beaune,  and  to  Dijon  ;  the  first,  in  order  to  enable  me 
to  visit,  with -advantage,  the  vineyards  of  Hermitage, 
the  two  latter,  those  of  Burgundy.  I  then  procured, 
for  the  purpose  of  planting  in  New  South  Wales,  a 
quantity  of  very  fine  fresh  dates,  three  varieties  ;  the 
first  was  called  the  date  of  Oran ;  the  second,  the 
Muscat  date :  both  of  these  were  from  Tunis.  The 
third  was  the  common  date  of  Barbary,  to  which  they 
attached  little  value. 

Wednesday,  1th  December. — This  morning,  at  seven 
o'clock,  I  quitted  Marseilles  for  Avignon,  where  I  ar- 
rived at  eight  in  the  evening.  The  whole  district 
from  Marseilles  till  within  a  few  miles  of  Avignon, -is, 
to  all  appearance,  of  the  most  sterile  description, 
though  every  where  cultivated  with  the  greatest  care. 
Aix,  about  20  miles  from  Marseilles,  is  celebrated  for 
the  quality  of  its  oils  ;  but  from  this  town,  onwards, 
the  olive  becomes  more  rare,  its  place  being  taken,  in 


HERMITAGE.  103 

general,  by  the  mulberry.  The  plain  round  Avignon 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  richest  in  France.  At  Avig- 
non I  found  that  there  is  a  regulated  price  at  which 
the  diligences  are  accustomed  to  take  merchandise, 
much  lower  than  they  charge  for  the  addiliohal  bag- 
gage of  a  passenger.  I  accordingly  agreed  for  the 
carriage  of  the  two  cases  of  vine  plants  to  Lyons. 

Friday,  2th  December,  Valence. — Having  joined  the 
diligence  for  this  place  late  on  Thursday  evening.  I 
arrived  about  seven  this  evening,  and  immediately 
proceeded  to  the  house  of  the  merchant  for  whom  I 
had  brought  a  letter.  I  was  informed  that  he  was 
then  from  home,  and  it  would  be  very  late  before  he 
returned.  I  was,  therefore,  prevented  joining  a  dili- 
gence which  was  to  proceed  to  Tain  at  eight  next 
morning.  After  quitting  Avignon  I  saw  no  more 
olives,  but  the  mulberry  was  most  abundant  on  all 
sides  ;  and  every  person  with  whom  I  have  spoken 
on  the  subject,  including  Messrs.  Durand,  Professor 
Delisle,  Messrs.  Audibert,  Negrel,  and  Brest,  concur 
in  representing  the  rearing  of  silk  worms  as  a  most 
profitable  pursuit.  M.  Audibert  said,  that  many  per- 
sons in  their  neighbourhood  who  had  mulberries  did 
not  themselves  rear  the  silk  worm,  but  disposed  of  the 
leaves  to  others.  I  he  ordinary  price  given  for  the 
leaves  of  a  good  sized  mulberry  tree  was  from  seven 
to  eight  francs ;  and  if  the  leaves  happened  to  be  scarce, 
so  much  as  10  or  12  francs  have  been  given.  They 
do  not  begin  to  strip  the  trees  of  their  leaves  till  they 
arc  five  or  six  years  old. 

Saturday,  IQth.December. — The  gentleman  to  whom 
I  brought  the  letter  was  not  himself  a  proprietor  ol 
vineyards  at  Hermitage,  but  was  requested  to  intro- 
duce me  to  some  person  having  a  vineyard  there. 
On  waiting  upon  him  this  morning,  I  found  a  letter 
prepared  for  me,  addressed  to  Messrs.  Richard  and 
Sons,  who  are  eminent  wine  merchants  and  bankers 
in  Tournon,  a  town  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Rhone 
to  Tain,  and  joined  to  it  by  a  suspension  bridge.  On 
receiving  this  letter,  I  hired  a  vehicle  to  carry  myself 


104  WINES  OF 

and  my  baggage  to  Tain,  which  is  a  small  town,  situ- 
ated on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  on  the  plain  which 
lies  immediately  between  the  hill  called   Hermitage 
and  the  river.     On  presenting  my  letter,  and  explain- 
ing in  general  terms  the  object  of  my  visit,  I  entered 
into  conversation  with  M.  Richard,  senior,  relative  to 
the  wines  of  Hermitage.     The  greatest  part  of  the 
finest  growth  is  sent  to  Bourdeaux  to  mix  with  the 
first  growths  of  Claret.     Messrs.  Richard  are  them- 
selves proprietors  of  part  of  the  hill  of  Hermitage, 
but  not  of  that  part  which  yields  the  finest  wines. 
They  are  also  wine  merchants  ;  but  like  the  Messrs. 
Durand,  of  Perpignan,  they  sell  it  only  on  the  grand 
scale.     One  of  the  sons  who  manages  this  depart- 
ment, conducted  me  over  the  cellars.     The  press  is 
more  complete  than  any  I  have  yet  seen  ;  the  screw 
is  of  iron,  and  from  the  closeness  of  the  worm,  must 
be  of  immense  power.     It  is  raised  in  the  centre  of  a 
square  trough,  about  seven  feet  in  diameter.     The 
female  screw   is   covered  by    a  horizontal   wooden 
wheel,  the  spokes  of  which  project  over  the  sides  of 
the  trough,  and  are  finished  off  so  as  to  afford  a  con- 
venient handle  for  the  workmen.     At  the  height  of  a 
foot  from  the  bottom  of  the  trough,  on  the  crutside, 
there  is  a  circular  stage  projecting  from  its  sides  for 
the  workmen  when  filling  the  press,  and  turning  the 
wheel.     The  sides  of  the  trough  only  rise  to  the  height 
of  this  stage.      The  grapes,  without  any   previous 
treading,  are  built  up  in  the  trough  to  the  height  of 
the  screw,  and  when  the  latter  is  turned,  the  must 
flows  from  spouts  which  issue  from  {he  bottom  of  the 
trough  at  each  side.     When  the  sides  of  the  mass 
which  may  have  been  pressed  out  so  far  as  to  escape 
from  the  action  of  the  press  have  been  cut  off  with 
an  instrument  resembling  a  hay  knife,  and  the  press 
has  been  raised  so  as  to  receive  this  additional  quan- 
tity, and  again  put  in  operation,  the  process  is  com- 
plete ;  not  a  drop  of  must  remains  in  the  marc,  as  the 
mass  of  skins  and  stalks  is  called.     The  marc  is  dis- 
posed of,  and  employed  to  produce  a  bad  brandy ; 


£  tft* 

HERMITAGE.  105 

for  this  purpose  it  is  soaked  in  water  to  extract  any 
saccharine  matter  which  may  remain,  and  the  fluid 
which  it  yields,  when  again  pressed,  is  fermented  and 
distilled.  To  my  astonishment,  M.  Richard  informed 
me,  that  by  one  charge  of  this  press  they  could  obtain 
40  casks  of  wine,  of  about  50  gallons  each.  As  the 
must  flows  from  the  press,  it  is  conveyed  to  the  casks, 
where  it  is  suffered  to  ferment  from  five  days  to  a 
month,  according  to  the  strength  of  fermentation,  the 
casks  being  always  kept  full  to  permit  the  scum  to 
escape.  When  the  first  fermentation  is  decidedly 
finished,  the  wine  is  drawn  off  into  a  clean  cask, 
which  has  been  previously  sulphured.  This  is  the 
whole  process  of  making  the  white  wines  of  Her- 
mitage. They  are  more  or  less  sweet,  according  to 
the  proportions  of  sweet  and  dry  grapes  which  have 
been  united  in  producing  them  ;  for  they  are  all  made 
from  two  varieties,  the  Marsan  yielding  a  must,  which, 
by  itself,  would  give  a  sweet  wine,  and  the  Rousette  a 
must,  which,  by  itself,  would  yield  a  dry  wine. 

The  white  wine  of  Hermitage,  even  after  having 
undergone  the  complete  fermentation  above  described, 
still  retains  a  disposition  to  effervesce  when  put  into 
bottle.  It  is  said  to  be  without  question  the  finest 
white  wine  of  France,  and  will  keep  for  100  years, 
improving  as  it  gets  older ;  and  when  very  old,  ac- 
quiring a  similarity  to  the  white  wines  of  Spain. 

For  fermenting  the  red  wines,  Messrs.  Richard  have 
fc.  two  vats,  each  capable  of  containing  16,000  gallons. 
Every  day,  as  the  grapes  are  brought  from  the  vine- 
yard, they  are  trodden  in  troughs,  and  then  emptied 
into  the  vats  ;  and  while  the  vats  are  filling,  a  man  gets 
into  them  once  a  day  to  tread  down  the  surface. 
The  object  of  this  is  to  prevent  the  surface  from  be- 
coming sour  by  exposure  to  the  air,  and  to  render  the 
fermentation  as  equal  as  possible  through  the  whole 
mass.  When  it  becomes  too  deep  for  a  man  to  tread 
it  to  the  bottom,  he  suspends  himself  by  the  middle 
from  a  plank  across  the  vat.  The  duration  of  the 
fermentation  is  very  uncertain,  depending  upon  th§ 


106  VINEYARDS  OF 

state  of  the  weather,  and  the  ripeness  of  the  grapes. 
Messrs.  Richard  ferment  the  finest  grapes  in  one  vat, 
and  those  of  an  inferior  quality  in  the  other.  I  tasted 
the  wine  of  both  vats  of  the  last  vintage ;  the  first 
was  made  of  the  best  grapes,  which  were  also  gather- 
ed in  dry  and  warm  weather;  the  second  quality  was 
made  from  the  inferior  grapes,  and  from  others  which 
had  been  gathered  during  rain  and  cold  weather. 

The  fermentation  of  the  first  was  over  in  five  days, 
*  and  its  present  value  is  300  francs  the  cask  of  210 

'•*••"•  litres,  (that  is,  about  as  many  bottles ;)  the  other  con- 
•  .  ,     j/tinued  fermenting  in  the  vat  for  twenty  days,  and  its 
1*  f"  present  value  is  only  80  francs  for  the  same  quantity. 
rf*^     The  finest  Clarets  of  Bourdeaux  are  mixed  with  a 
portion  of  the  finest  red  wine  of  Hermitage,  and  four 
fifths  of  the  quantity  of  the  latter  which  is  produced 
are  thus  employed.     The  wines  are  racked  off  the 
lees  in  spring,  and  sulphured.     A  very  small  piece  of 
sulphured  match  is  burnt  in  the  casks  intended  for  the 
white  wine  ;  the  red  wine  requires  a  greater  portion. 
\Zfeh       These  matches  are  purchased  from  persons  who  make 
a  business  in  preparing  them.      They  are  slips  of 
'*  ^    PaPer>  about  one  incli  and  a  half  broad,  and  when 
\~Af-t    coated  on  both  sides  with  sulphur,  are  about  the  thick- 
ness of  a  sixpence.     A  piece  of  one  inch  and  a  half 
"  ,     square  is  sufficient  for  a  cask  of  white  wine  contain- 
*  6*4k    ing  50  gallons. 

On  returning  from  visiting  the  cellar  of  old  wines, 
which  is  under  the  other,  I  found  one  of  M.  Richard's 
sons  in  the  office,  who  had  been  12  months  in  Eng- 
land, and  spoke  English  very  correctly.  He  took  me 
to  visit  one  of  the  largest  proprietors  of  the  part  of 
the  hill  of  Hermitage,  which  produces  the  best  wines. 
We  found  him  at  home,  and  walked  with  him  to  two 
of  his  vineyards.  The  hill  of  Hermitage  is  so  called 
from  an  ancient  hermitage,  the  ruins  of  which  are 
still  in  existence  near  its  top.  It  was  inhabited  by 
hermits  till  within  the  last  100  years.  The  hill,  though 
of  considerable  height,  is  not  of  great  extent ;  the 
whole  front  which  looks  to  the  south  may  contain  300 


HERMITAGE.  107 

acres,  but  of  this,  though  the  whole  is  under  vines, 
the  lower  part  is  too  rich  to  yield  those  of  the  best 
quality,  and  a  part  near  the  top  is  too  cold  to  bring  its 
produce  to  perfect  maturity.  Even  of  the  middle 
region,  the  whole  extent  does  not  produce  the  finest 
wines.  M.  Machon,  the  gentleman  whose  property 
we  were  traversing,  pointed  out  to  me  the  direction 
in  which  a  belt  of  calcareous  soil  crossed  the  ordinary 
granitic  soil  of  the  mountain,  and  he  said  it  requires  the 
grapes  of  these  different  soils  to  be  mixed,  in  order  to 
produce  the  "finest  quality  of  Hermitage.  I  took  home 
a  portion  of  the  soil  which  he  pointed  out  as  calcareous, 
and  the  degree  of  effervescence  which  took  place 
on  my  pouring  vinegar  upon  it,  indicated  the  presence 
of  a  considerable  portion  of  lime.  It  is  probably  to 
this  peculiarity  that  the  wine  of  Hermitage  owes  its 
superiority  ;  for  to  all  appearance  many  of  the  neigh- 
bouring hills  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhone  present  situa- 
tions equally  favourable,  although  the  wine  produced 
even  upon  the  best  of  them  never  rises  to  above  half 
value  of  the  former,  and  in  general  not  to  the 
***  fourth  of  their  value.  A  good  deal  may  also  be  attri- 
_.  butable  to  the  selection  of  plants.  The  best  red  wines 
of  Hermitage  are  made  exclusively  from  one  variety, 
;md  the  white  wines  from  two  varieties ;  but  in  the 
istrict  generally  a  much  greater  number  of  varieties 
cultivated.  The  Red  Grape  is  named  the  Ciras.* 
white  varieties  are  the  Rousette  and  the  Marsan. 
The  former  yields  by  itself  a  dry  and  spirituous  wine, 
which  easily  affects  the  head  ;  the  plant  produces  indif- 
ferently. The  latter  yields  a  sweeter  wine.  They  are 
mixed  together  to  produce  the  best  white  Hermitage. 
The  labour  bestowed  upon  these  vineyards  is  im- 
mense. According  to  M.  Machon,  on  their  first  plan- 
tation, and  every  time  the  plantation  is  renewed,  the 

*  In  the  CEnologie  Franraise,  a  very  minute  and  correct  account  of  the 
French  vineyards,  published  in  1826,  the  name  of  this  grape  is  spelt  Scyras ; 
and  it  is  stated  that,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  neighbourhood,  the 
plant  was  originally  brought  from  Shiraz  in  Persia,  by  one  of  the  hermits 
of  the  mountain. 


108  VINEYARDS  OF  HERMITAGE. 

soil  is  dug  to  the  depth  of  4£  or  5  feet.  In  most  places 
it  is  also  supported  by  terraces.  This  was  the  first 
place,  in  the  course  of  my  journey,  in  which  I  observed 
any  supports  given  to  the  vines ;  but  these  were  simply 
a  stake  of  about  five  feet  in  height  to  each  plant, 
and  the  shoots  were  tied  together  at  its  top ;  for 
from  the  care  indicated  by  the  small  trellis  of  the 
Medoc  vineyards,  this  part  of  the  labour  seemed  to  be 
performed  in  the  rudest  possible  manner.  M.  Ma- 
chon  informed  me  that  the  vines  require  constant  at- 
tention to  keep  them  in  bearing,  and  whenever  a  vine 
is  observed  to  be  weak,  or  to  yield  a  poor  crop,  it  is 
dug  out,  and  its  place  supplied  by  a  promn  from  the 
strongest  vine  in  its  neighbourhood.  I  saw  this  ope- 
ration commenced  and  completed.  A  vine  which  ap- 
peared weaker  than  the  rest  was  dug  out,  and  a  trench 
of  about  two  or  two  and  half  feet  deep  was  opened 
up  between  it  and  the  nearest  vine  in  the  adjoining 
row.  This  vine  bore  three  vigorous  shoots  ;  the  stock 
was  carefully  bent  down  till  it  was  laid  fiat  along  the 
bottom  of  the  trench  ;  a  quantity  of  dung  was  next  put. 
over  it,  and  then  some  soil ;  of  the  three  shoots,  the  least, 
favourable  from  its  inclination  was  cut  off,  one  of  the 
two  remaining  was  bent  back  to  the  original  position  of 
the  stock,  and  there  fixed  by  the  covering  in  of  the  soil ; 
the  other,  in  like  manner,  was  bent  in  the  opposite 
direction  to  fill  the  place  of  the  plant  which  was  dug 
out.  It  is  evident  that  this  is  a  very  different  process 
from  that  of  filling  a  vacant  space  by  bending  the 
shoot  of  an  adjoining  vine  into  the  ground  till  it  issues 
at  the  place  where  it  is  intended  to  grow,  and  after- 
wards, when  it  has  acquired  sufficient  strength,  cut- 
ting off  its  connexion  with  the  original ;  the  stock 
actually  became  the  root  of  two  distinct  vines,  and 
their  connexion  is  never  destroyed.  This  process 
had  taken  place  with  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
vines  this  season,  and  a  portion  of  them  are  annu- 
ally treated  thus :  Into  each  trench  was  put  rather 
a  large  basket  full  of  stable  dung,  mixed  with  soil. 
On  my  expressing  great  surprise  that  dung  should  be 


VINEYARDS  OP  HERMITAGE.  109 

used  at  all  in  a  vineyard  of  such  reputation,  as  I  had 
always  understood,  that  though  it  added  to  the  quan- 
tity of  the  wine,  it  injured  its  quality,  and  often  gave 
it  a  bad  flavour,  the  proprietor  said,  that  without  fre- 
quent and  strong  manuring  the  vines  would  scarcely 
yield  any  thing ;  and  that  provided  horse  or  sheep  dung 
only  were  used,  there  was  no  danger  of  its  giving  the 
wine  a  bad  flavour,  though  the  contrary  was  the  case 
if  the  dung  of  cows,  and  still  more  that  of  pigs,  were 
made  use  of.  M.  Machon  gave  me  12  cuttings,  the 
number  I  requested,  of  each  of  the  three  varieties  of  * '&%,* 
vines.  He  strictly  charged  the  vigneron  to  select1** 
them  from  young  vines;  he  said  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  they  could  get  the  vines  to  last  30 
years,  and  they  would  not  last  more  than  half  of  that  ^ 
time,  if  they  were  not  taken  from  young  vines,  that  is,  ^ 
from  vines  of  five  or  six  years.  The  vines  of  Hermitage 
are  planted  at  the  distance  of  only  2^  feet  from  each 
other,  and  are  pruned  differently  from  any  I  have  be- 
fore observed.  They  are  not  anxious  to  keep  the 
stocks  low,  as  in  the  south,  but  many  of  the  older 
9  /among  them  are  18  inches,  or  two  feet  in  height.  In  fi 

ineral  there  is  only  one  mother  branch,  and  one  shoot  /«/**** 
only  (very  seldom  two)  is  pruned  to  yield  the  shoots 
of  the  season  ;  on  this  shoot  are  left  from  3  to  8  buds, 
according  to  its  strength,  and  from  8  to  10  bunches 
is  the  average  produce  of  each  vine.  However  loose-  (<r- 
ly  the  bearing  wood  of  the  season  appeared  to  be  tied    •' 
tip  in  a  tuft  at  the  top  of  the  stake,  M.  Machon  showed 
me  that  the  portion  which  had  been  left  of  the  last 
year's  wood  was  carefully  bent  down  in  a  circular 
form,  and  thus  fixed  to  the  stake.     This,  he  said,  was 
to  prevent  the  sap  from  shooting  up  with  too  great 
force  to  the  top.     The  average  produce  of  M.  Ma-  ^ 
chon's  vineyards  is  from  10  to  12  casks,  or  about  50 
gallons  per  hectare  ;  that  is,  from  210  to  260  gallons 
per  English  acre.     The  soil  appeared  to  be  of  great 
depth,  and  full  of  small  stones  and  gravel,  but  still 
there  was  every  where  a  large  proportion  of  good 
vegetable  mould.     An  observation  made  by  M.  Ma- 
10 


110  COTE  D?OK, 

chon  was,  that  the  wines  of  granitic  soils  soon  ac- 
-w-    quired  their  maturity,  and  were  in  general  very  plea- 
sant wines  for  the  consumption  of  the  country  where 
they  grew,  but  seldom  kept  well. 

Before  parting,  M.  Richard  asked  me  how  I  had 
in  general  been  treated  by  his  countrymen,  and  he  ap- 
peared much  gratified  when  I  told  him  that  the  atten- 
tions I  had  uniformly  met  with  far  exceeded  either 
what  I  did  expect,  or  had  any  right  to  expect.  Indeed, 
I  have  often  reflected  how  ill  placed  was  the  reserve 
I  was  advised  to  use  about  the  objects  of  my  journey, 
when  in  the  Bordeaux  country  in  1822.  I  was  then 
told,  that  if  these  were  known,  it  would  excite  the 
greatest  jealousy  wherever  I  should  go,  and  that  I 
would  be  thwarted  and  misled  in  every  possible  way. 
On  the  present  occasion  I  had  no  advisers  ;  and  acting 
upon  the  impulse  of  my  own  disposition,  I  uniformly 
prefaced  my  request  for  information  with  a  statement 
of  the  object  for  which  it  was  required.  So  far,  how- 
ever, from  having  been  in  any  one  instance  ill  received 
or  misled,  I  have  found  every  person  to  whom  I 
applied  anxious  to  forward  my  undertaking.  M.  Ri- 
chard expressed  a  hope,  that  if  I  published  an  account 
of  my  journey,  I  would  give  his  countrymen  the  cre- 
dit to  which  I  considered  them  entitled. 

Wednesday,  14th  December,  Beaune. — After  quit- 
ting the  vineyards  of  Hermitage,  there  was  nothing 
which  I  was  desirous  of  examining,  till  my  arrival  in 
Burgundy,  and  I  accordingly  made  the  best  of  my 
way  to  this  town,  which  is  in  the  centre  of  the  Cote. 
d'Or.  Spending  only  one  day  in  Lyons,  which  was 
still  in  a  state  of  ferment  from  the  disturbances  that 
had  taken  place  three  weeks  before,  the  road  from 
Chalons  sur  Saone,  whence  I  took  my  departure  this 
morning,  and  Chagny,  a  small  town,  where  com- 
mences the  range  of  hills  called  Cote  d'Or,  was  crowd- 
ed with  people  driving  cattle  and  pigs ;  a  gentleman 
who  was  with  me  in  the  diligence  said  they  were 
going  to  a  fair  at  Chagny.  1  observed  a  number  of 
very  fine  working  oxen,  in  pairs ;  they  were  yoked 


CJOTE  D'OR.  Ill 

by  tlie  head,  and  appeared  perfectly  docile.  My  com- 
panion said  they  were  worth  from  300  to  400  francs  a 
pair.  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction  addressed  to  Rul- 
ly,  near  Beaune,  and  I  never  doubted  that  I  should  find 
it  within  a  mile  of  that  town.  On  making  inquiry,  how- 
ever, in  which  direction  I  must  proceed,  I  was  in- 
formed that  Rully  was  13  or  14  miles  distant,  and 
that  I  had  passed  it  by  on  the  road  from  Chalons.  Af- 
ter some  hesitation,  I  resolved,  as  the  weather  was 
extremely  wet,  to  content  my  self  with  seeing  the  vine- 
yards nearer  Dijon,  to  which  town  I  had  also  a  letter. 
After  waiting  a  couple  of  hours  in  hopes  of  better  wea- 
ther, I  procured  a  boy  to  conduct  me  in  the  direction 
of  Pornard,  the  nearest  vineyard  to  Beaune  which  has 
any  celebrity.  After  leaving  the  town,  however,  for 
about  half  a  mile,  I  became  tired  of  walking  through 
the  mud,  which  was  in  many  places  ankle  deep,  and 
turned  aside  to  join  some  men  who  were  at  work  on 
the  road-side.  The  first  thing  which  had  struck  me 
on  seeing  the  vineyards  of  Burgundy,  was  the  ex- 
ireme  closeness  and  feebleness  of  the  plants.  These 
men  were  employed  in  planting.  They  opened  a  small 
furrow  with  a  spade,  only  one  spit,  or  about  12  inches 
deep,  and  about  9  inches  wide  at  the  bottom.  The  fur- 
rows  were  2^feet  apart,  and  the  plants  were  placed  in 
them  at  the  distance  of  14  or  1 5  inches ;  the  lower  end  of 
the  plant  was  placed  across  the  bottom  of  ihe  furrow, 
and  bent  up  at  one  side;  a  quantity  of  dung  was 
placed  above,  and  then  the  soil  was  covered  in,  and 
the  plantation  finished.  They  told  me  that  after  these 
vines  were  three  years  old,  the  strongest  of  them 
would  be  selected  to  fill  another  row  between  each 
of  the  present  row,  by  the  system  of  provignage,  the 
same  as  I  had  seen  at  Hermitage;  and  thus  a  space 
of  15  inches  only  would  be  left  between  each  plant 
in  every  direction.  The  vines  adjoining  had  not  more 
space  allowed,  although  the  soil  appeared  exceedingly 
fertile.  They  said  it  would  yield  a  good  ordinary  wine, 
but  not  a  fine  wine. 


112  BEAUNE, 

The  plain  between  Chagny  and  Beaune,  lying  to 
the  southeast  of  the  range  of  hills,  which,  from 
the  value  of  their  produce,  give  the  name  of  Cote 
d'Or  to  the  department,  is  extremely  rich,  and  to  all 
appearance  capable  of  yielding  golden  harvests  of 
corn,  as  the  hills  do  of  wine.  The  greater  portion  of 
it,  however,  was  planted  with  vines  on  both  sides  of 
the  road.  Near  Chagny  it  appeared  lighter,  with 
u  larger  admixture  of  stones,  and  on  approaching 
Beaune,  it  was  a  rich  brown  loam.  A  portion  of  the 
soil  taken  from  where  the  men  were  planting  was 
very  slightly  calcareous.  Towards  the  top,  the  range 
of  hills,  which  are  of  no  great  elevation,  not  nearly 
so  high  or  so  steep  as  Hermitage,  was  not  planted,  but 
seemed  to  be  in  a  state  of  nature,  or  in  pasturage. 
The  hill  of  Hermitage  was  planted  to  the  top. 

Thursday,  15th  December,  Dijon. — Having  joined 
the  diligence  at  ten  last  night,  I  arrived  here  at  three 
this  morning.  After  breakfast  I  proceeded  to  the 
house  of  the  merchants  to  whom  i  had  brought  a  let- 
ter from  Marseilles,  but  found  they  were  both  from 
home ;  neither  was  there  any  person  belonging  to 
eir  establishment  who  could  in  any  way  forward 
y  views.  I  applied  to  the  innkeeper  ;  and  after  tell- 
ing him  the  object  of  my  journey,  inquired  if  he  were 
acquainted  with  any  of  the  proprietors  of  the  best 
vineyards.  He  said  yes  ;  that  he  could  give  me  the 
address  of  a  proprietor  at  Gevray,  and  also  of  the 
proprietor  of  the  Clos  Vougeot.  The  day  was,  how- 
ever, too  far  spent  to  proceed  to  either  of  these  places. 
I  therefore  walked  through  the  mud  to  the  nearest 
vineyards,  and  entered  into  conversation  with  some 
of  the  people  whom  I  found  employed  in  them.  The 
place  I  visited  was  a  gentle  slope,  with  a  southeast 
exposure.  The  soil  seemed  good,  and  at  the  same 
time  perfectly  loose  and  full  of  gravel.  It  belonged 
to  the  mayor  of  the  town,  and  produced,  the  man 
said,  a  fine  wine  ;  by  which  term  the  French  charac- 
terize, generally,  those  wines  which  are  drunk  pure 
k  ''  in  wine  glasses,  in  contradistinction  to  those 


DIJON.  113 

which  are  drunk  in  tumblers  mixed  with  water  at 
their  ordinary  meals.     If,  however,  I  had  sought  a 
reason  for  the  wine  not  having  a  high  name,  I  might 
perhaps  have  found  it  in  the  quantity  of  strong  dung  he 
was  adding  to  the  soil,  and  to  the  mixture  of  different 
kinds  of  vines,  the  infamous  gam£,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  holding  a  considerable  place.     He  was  busily 
employed  in  the  provignage,  which  seems  almost  the 
only  work  going  on  at  present.     He  had  commenced 
the  same  morning,  and  had  dug  about  twenty  trenches, 
three  or  four  feet  long  by  about  two  feet  wide.     In 
each  of  these  were  half  a  dozen  provins ;  that  is,  the 
ends  of  the  shoots  which  belonged  to  the  stock  that 
had  been  buried  in  the  trench.     These  trenches  are 
never  more  than  half  filled,  as  the  shoots  are  never 
sufficiently  long  to  come  up  to  the  level  of  the  surface. 
From  this  circumstance  the  whole  of  the  vineyards 
of  Burgundy  are  full  of  these  holes  at  irregular  dis- 
tances, and  have  a  very  rugged  and  unworkmanlike 
appearance.     I  remained  while  he  completed  two  of 
these  trenches,  and  he  endeavoured  to  explain  to  me 
the  process ;  but  all  that  I  could  comprehend  was, 
that  the  shoots  were  so  disposed  as  to  preserve  the 
alignment,  although  it  would  have  been  very  difficult 
to  point  out  which  way  the  alignment  lay.  *  For  this 
purpose  the  stocks  and  roots  were  twisted,  and  the 
different  plants  laid  across  each  other  in  every  pos- 
sible direction.     At  a  little  further  distance,  another 
man  was  employed  in  rooting  out  a  vineyard,  which 
he  said  had  been  neglected  some  years  before,  and 
which  it  had  been  found  impossible  to  reduce  to  order. 
The  plants  were  literally  crowded  to  such  a  degree, 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  set  down  the  foot 
without  treading  upon  some  of  them.    Before  it  should 
be  again  planted  with  vines,  it  would,  he  said,  be  laid 
down  for  three  or  four  years  with  sainfoin.     This  is  a 
common  preparation  of  the  soil  for  vines  in  this  district, 
and  seems  to  be  almost  considered  equivalent  to  a 
trenching.  He  said  that,  for  a  poor  man,  the  gamt,  or  as 
it  was  generally  called,  the  large  plant,  was  undoubt- 


«_4  A  •£  J[ 


114  COTE1>'OR. 

edly  the  best  kind  of  vine,  the  quantity  it  yielded  was 
so  much  greater  than  the  other  ;  and,  to  a  poor  man, 
the  quality  was  not  so  much  an  object,  for  the  large 
proprietors  and  merchants  would  never  acknowledge 
his  wine  to  be  a  fine  one,  and  it  was  very  difficult  to 
sell  it  for  a  high  price,  however  good.  He  said  that, 
[n  that  soil,  the  large  plant  would  yield  eight  pieces 
of  wine  on  a  plot  of  ground  78  paces  by  24,  (the  extent 
of  that  he  was  working.)  This  is  little  more  than  the 
third  of  an  acre,  and  is  more  than  1000  gallons  per 
English  acre.  It  would  require,  he  said,  to  be  occa- 
sionally manured.  The  manure  gave  a  slight  flavour 
to  the  wine  for  the  first  season  only  ;  but  as  only  a 
part  of  the  ground  was  manured  each  season,  the 
bad  flavour  of  the  part  was  not  observed  in  the 
whole.  The  soil  of  this  vineyard  effervesced  very 
strongly  with  an  acid. 

Friday,  16th  December.  —  Having  engaged  a  cabrio- 
let from  the  maitre  d'hotd,  I  proceeded  at  an  early 
hour  this  morning  for  Gevray  and  Clos  Vougeot.  It 
was  a  retracing  of  part  of  the  road  by  which  I  had 
arrived  from  Beaune.  The  appearance  of  the  range 
of  hills  is  almost  in  every  respect  similar  to  what  it 
was  from  Chagny  to  Beaune,  but  towards  the  top  it 
was  more  generally  covered  with  wood.  On  both 
sides  of  the  road  the  soil  also  appears  similar,  but  on 
the  north  side  it  is  in  most  places  evidently  too  moist 
for  the  vine,  and  is  under  cultivation  with  corn.  The 
young  wheat  looks  healthy  .and  vigorous,  but  is  not 
nearly  so  far  advanced  as  in  the  south.  The  country 
is  thickly  peopled  along  the  whole  range  of  the  Cote 
d'Or.  There  are  said  to  be  fifty  villages  between 
Dijon  and  Beaune,  a  distancs  of  twenty-six  miles. 
Some  of  these  villages  are  of  very  considerable  ex- 
tent, and  the  houses  are  in  general  large,  and  all 
whitewashed  and  in  good  order. 

The  village  of  Gevray  is  about  five  miles  from 
Dijon.  In  its  immediate  neighbourhood  is  the  small 
vineyard  of  Chambertin,  as  well  as  several  others 
which  yield  wines  scarcely  inferior,  though  less  known 


J 


GEVRAY  AND  CHAMBERTIN.  115 

to  fame.     The  person  to  whom  my  guide  was  desired 
to  take  me,  was  a  merchant  as  well  as  a  proprietor. 
He  said  he  would,  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  give 
me  all  the  information  in  his  power,  and  he  made 
some  general  remarks  upon  the  requisites  which  must 
concur  to  afford  a  good  wine.     But  he  said  that  the 
postillion  had  informed  him  that  he  was  also  directed 
to  take  me  to  the  Clos  Vougeot,  where  I  would  find 
the  confidential  manager  of  M.  Ouvrard,  the  proprie- 
tor, who  could  explain  much  better  not  only  the  ma- 
nagement of  the  vineyard,  but  the  making  of  the  wine, 
for  it  was  the  largest  and  best  managed  vineyard  in 
Burgundy.     In  the  mean  time,  as  I  had  expressed  a 
desire  to  see  Chambertin,  he  procured  a  vigneron, 
who,  he  said,  was  a  very  intelligent  man,  and  would 
conduct  me  to  it.     Chambertin  lay  in  the  direction  of 
Vougeot,  but  by  a  very  bad  road.     The  land  under 
vines  is  in  general  very  much  subdivided  throughout 
France,  but  here  the  properties  are  of  less  extent  than 
anywhere  I  have  been.     Five  or  six  proprietors  often 
divide  among  them  a  piece  of  ground  not  exceeding 
an  acre  in  extent,  and  the  usual  extent  of  most  of  the 
separate  properties  is  not  more  than  half  an  acre. 
The  vigneron  said  that  the  wine  produced  to  the  left 
of  the  by-road  we  were  travelling  was  inferior  to  that 
on  the  right,  which  was  higher  and  drier.     We  turned 
off  into  the  vineyard  of  Chambertin,  which  in  extent 
cannot  exceed  15  or  20  acres  ;  but  this,  like  most 
other  parts  of  the  district,  is  subdivided  among  a 
number  of  proprietors.     The  vignerons  were  at  work 
on  most  of  the  divisions,  which  are  only  made  by  a 
footpath,  or  an  irregularity  in  the  plantation.     The 
soil  of  Chambertin  varies  extremely,  even  in  the  dis- 
tance of   100  yards  ;    that  nearest  the  road  is  of  a 
brown  loam  of  sufficient  consistency,  but  full  of  gravel, 
and  consequently  very  friable.     The  gravel  consists 
of  small  broken'  pieces  of  the  whitish  limestone,  of 
which  the  hill  is  partly  formed.     At  the  highest  limit 
to  which  the  ground  has  been  broken  up,  it  is  a  light 
coloured  clayish  looking  soil,  with  a  subsoil  of  marl, 


116  COTE  D'OR. 

and  abundance  of  small  shells.  Both  of  these  soils 
effervesced  strongly  with  an  acid,  but  the  light  colour- 
ed evidently  contains  a  far  greater  proportion  of  lime. 
The  soils  of  Beze,  another  first  rate  vineyard  of  the 
commune  of  Gevray,  was  exactly  similar  to  that  of 
the  lower  part  of  Chambertin.  A  league  further  on, 
the  middle  part  of  the  Clos  Vougeot  was  as  nearly  as 
possible  the  same  ;  but  the  lowest  part  of  that  vine- 
yard is  almost  a  pure  clay,  of  a  dark  yellow  colour, 
without  any  admixture  of  calcareous  matter  whatever. 
From  what  I  had  previously  observed  at  Dijon  on  the 
one  side,  and  Beaune  on  the  other,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  same  character  applies,  with  trifling  variations,  to 
the  whole  range  of  the  Cote  d'Or.  Nearest  the  top 
the  soil  contains  a  larger  proportion  of  lime,  and  this 
in  general  yields  the  driest  and  best  wine.  On  de- 
scending, the  clay  begins  to  predominate,  and  the 
wine  gradually  falls  off  in  quality  til!  it  becomes  the 
vin  ordinaire  of  the  country.  By  dint  of  frequent 
observations  and  repeated  questions,  I  conceive  that 
I  at  last  perfectly  understand  the  system  of  provig- 
nage.  To  .make  it  plain,  suppose  a  small  portion  of 
ground  to  be  annually  planted  with  vines.  At  the 
end  of  ten  or  a  dozen  years,  a  number  of  the  plants, 
in  the  portion  first  planted,  become  weak  and  worn 
out.  These  weak  plants  are  removed,  and  their 
places  filled  by  provins  from  their  stronger  neigh- 
bours ;  but  these  provins  are  not  mere  layers  which 
leave  the  stock  exactly  as  before.  The  whole  space 
of  ground,  generally  the  breadth  of  two  rows  of 
plants,  is  dug  out  to  the  depth  of  about  two  feet ;  the 
old  stock  is  then  laid  flat  down  in  the  bottom  of  the 
trench,  and  the  branches,  that  is,  the  wood  last  pro- 
duced, are  twisted  and  bent  into  the  places  where 
the  voids  are  to  be  filled.  The  stock  is  thus  con- 
verted int®  the  root  of  two  or  three  different  plants  ; 
it  throws  out  fibres  from  every  side,  which  henceforth 
yield  the  nourishment  to  the  plants,  and  the  old  root 
dies  off.  I  observed  some  spots  where  all  the  plants 
had  been  too  weak,  and  a  colony  of  young  plants,  as 


GEVRAY   AND    CHAMBERTIN.  11? 

it  was  called,  had  been  introduced,  which  would  be 
employed  in  peopling  their  neighbourhood  when  they 
had  acquired  sufficient  strength.  The  provignage 
extends  irregularly  over  the  whole  vineyard,  but  most, 
or  all,  of  the  plants  are  thus  buried,  and  renewed 
once  in  12  or  14  years  ;  and  thus  the  whole  is  in 
constant  state  of  bearing,  (the  provins  yielding  a  crop 
the  first  year,)  and  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  introduce 
young  vines.  All  of  the  small  proprietors  manure 
their  vines  with  strong  stable  dung ;  they  make  no 
distinction  between  that  of  horses  and  that  of  cows. 

After  quitting  the  vineyard  of  Chamber  tin,  I  rejoined 
the  cabriolet,  and  after  recovering  the  main  road,  pro- 
ceeded to  Clos  Vougeot.  This  vineyard  formerly  be- 
longed to  a  convent,  and  the  buildings  are  therefore 
rather  extensive.  What  was  the  old  vineyard  is  en- 
closed by  a  high  stone  wall ;  but  M.  Ouvrard,  the 
present  proprietor,  has  also  acquired  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  land  without  the  wall,  and  the  present 
extent  of  the  Clos  Vougeot  is  therefore  48  hectares, 
112|  English  acres. 

I  mentioned  to  the  steward  of  M.  Ouvrard,  my  dis- 
appointment  regarding  my  letters  of  introduction,  and 
my  having  resolved  in  consequence  to  trust  to  the  good 
nature  of  the  proprietor  of  Clos  Vougeot  for  a  friendly 
reception.     He  replied,  very  heartily,  that  I  had  done 
well.     He  conducted  me  over  the  cellars  where  the 
wines  are  made,  and  subsequently  over  those  where  I 
they  are  kept,  explaining  the  whole  process  pursued  in 
making  the  wine,  and  answering  all  my  questions  with 
great  exactness.     The  first  cellar  forms  a  square,  or  4-  £'# 
rather  consists  of  four    parallelograms,  enclosing  a^***,^ 
square.     In  each  of  the  four  corners  is  a  large  square  /v>     > 
case,  or  trough,  about  12  feet  in  diameter ;  and  above  *v  A^j 
this  an  immense  lever,  worked  by  a  wooden  screw, 
similar  to  those  I  had  seen  for  pressing  the  olives  in 
Spain.     Along  the  walls,  on  each  side,  are  arranged 
the  fermenting  vats,  which  are  each  of  the  capacity  of 
18  hogsheads.     The  vintage  is,  in  general,  soon  over, 
M.  Ouvrard  employing  often  from  4QO  to  450  vinta^ 


118  COTE  D'OR. 

gers  at  the  same  time.  For  the  red  wine,  the  grapes 
as  they  are  brought  in  are  thrown  into  the  large  cases 
or  troughs  above  described,  and  there  trodden  by  a 
number  of  men,  with  large  wooden  shoes,  till  the 
grapes  are  nearly  all  broken.  They  are  then  taken 
up  in  baskets,  with  interstices  wide  enough  to  allow 
the  grapes  to  pass  through,  when  a  portion  of  the 
stalks,  generally  about  two  thirds,  are  taken  out.  If 
the  whole  of  the  stalks  were  taken  out,  the  quality  of 
the  wine,  as  has  been  repeatedly  proved,  would  be 
inferior.  The  whole  is  then  put  into  the  vat  into  which 
4116  must,  as  it  ran  from  the  treading,  had  been  pre- 
^^yiously  carried.  With  the  number  of  people  employ- 
ed, it  requires  a  very  short  period  to  fill  a  vat.  A 
space  of  about  12  inches  is  left  unfilled  at  the  top,  and 
a  sliding  lid  is  then  put  over,  which  floats  upon  the 
surface,  As  soon  as  the  fermentation  becomes  violent, 
the  swelling  of  the  mass  lifts  the  lid  to  the  height  of 
six  inches  above  the  mouth  of  the  vat.  As,  however, 
the  skins  and  the  stalks  had  previously  risen  to  the 
surface,  none  of  the  liquor  escapes.  A  very  small 
space,  formed  by  the  looseness  of  the  lid,  is  considered 
sufficient  to  allow  the  gas  to  escape,  until  the  rising  of 
the  lid  allows  a  greater  space.  And  it  is  perhaps  ow- 
ing to  the  confinement  of  the  gas  that  the  lid  is  raised 
to  such  a  height.  If  the  weather  had  been  very  warm 
when  the  grapes  were  gathered,  and  still  continues 
4i'Jwt*varm'  wnile  tne  fermentation  is  going  forward,  the 
wine  is  soon  made.  The  fermentation  is  sometimes 
over  in  30  hours  ;  at  other  times  it  continues  10,  12, 
and  even  15  days.  The  best  wine  is  always  produced 
from  the  most  rapid  fermentation.  When  the  fermen- 
tation slackens,  the  liquor  begins  to  subside,  and  when 
it  is  entirely  over,  sinks  within  the  top  of  the  vat,  but 
not  so  low  as  when  the  vat  was  first  filled  ;  for  the  marc, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  stalks  and  skins,  are  completely 
separated  from  the  liquor,  and  float  upon  the  top. 

As  soon  as  it  is  known,  by  the  subsiding  of  the  head, 
and  by  the  taste  and  examination  of  the  wine,  that  the 
fermentation  has  ceased,  the  wine  is  drawn  off  into 


CLOS  VOUGEOT.  119 

large  vats,  which  contain  about  700  gallons  each. 
Every  three  or  four  months  it  is  pumped,  by  means  of 
the  siphon  and  bellows,  into  another  vat  of  the  same 
dimension,  when  a  man  enters  by  the  small  opening 
left  in  the  end  of  the  vats,  and  washes  out,  with  a  brush 
and  cold  water,  any  lees  which  may  have  been  deposit- 
ed. The  Burgundy  of  the  Clos  Vougeot  receives  no 
other  preparation,  and  it  is  treated  in  this  manner  as 
often  as  may  be  judged  requisite,  till  it  is  disposed  of. 
They  commence  selling  it  when  three  and  four  years 
old,  but  the  wine  of  very  favourable  seasons  is  retained 
by  the  proprietor  till  it  is  ten  or  a  dozen  years  old,  when 
it  is  bottled,  and  sold  at  the  rate  of  six  francs  a  bottle. 
The  price  of  the  wine  of  ordinary  vintages,  from  three 
to  four  years  old,  is  from  500  to  600  francs  the  hogs- 
head, but  seasons  occasionally  occur  when  the  wine  is 
not  better  than  the  vin  ordinaire  of  the  country.  The 
wine  of  1824  was  given  to  the  labourers  as  their  ordi- 
nary drink  ;  that  of  1825  is  now  ripening  in  the  large 
vats,  and  will  be  worth,  in  three  or  four  years  more,  six 
francs  a  bottle.  The  wine  has  been  found  by  expe- 
rience to  be  of  better  quality,  and  to  preserve  its 
perfume  better,  in  these  large  vats  than  in  casks. 

For  making  the  white  wine,  the  process  here,  as 
elsewhere,  is  different.  The  grapes  are  pressed  with- 
out being  trodden ;  the  must,  as  it  flows  from  the 
press,  is  conveyed  to  the  small  casks,  where  it  is  left 
to  ferment,  the  casks  being  occasionally  filled  up  to 
allow  the  scum  to  escape.  The  fermentation  of  the 
white  wine  lasts  from  10  to  15,  or  even  20  days.  At 
the  end  of  three  weeks,  or  a  month,  the  white  wine  is 
drawn  off  the  gross  lees  which  it  has  deposited,  into 
clean  casks.  In  the  spring  it  is  again  drawn  off  into 
sulphured  casks.  M.  L'Ecrivain,  M.  Ouvrard's  stew- 
ard, knows  the  use  of  spirit  of  wine  instead  of  sul- 
phur, but  they  use  the  latter  from  economical  motives ; 
the  sulphur  for  a  cask  costs  only  a  sous,  the  alcohol 
to  produce  the  same  effect  would  cost  six  sous.  They 
do  not  find  that  the  sulphur  tastes  the  wine.  They 
are  getting  rid  of  the  white  grapes  in  the  Clos  Vougeot, 


120  COTJ3   D'O«. 

for  the  vines  not  only  produce  less,  but  the  price  of 
white  wine  never  rises  so  high  as  the  red  wines.     It 
is  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  hogshead  of  the  latter  to 
bring  from  1,'^50  to  1,500  francs,  but  the  white  wine 
never  rises  above  600  francs  the  hogshead.    The  ave- 
J-       ^  rage  produce  of  the  Clos  Vougeot,  that  is  to  say,  the 
^  ^average  of  twenty  years,  is  about  100  queues,  of  two 
'*?      f'   hogsheads  each,  or  about  eight  hogsheads   per  hec- 
144  «g3*  tare,  something  less  than   3|  hogsheads  per  English 
>•  •-%<*•      acre.    They  never  manure  the  vines,  and  they  have  no 
other  varieties  of  the  black  grape  than  the  Pineau,  or 
of  the  white,  than  the  White  Pineau,  and  the  Chaude- 
nay,  which  resembles  it  so  much  that  the  two  kinds 
are  confounded.     M.  L'Ecrivain  said,  that  if  he  knew 
of  a  plant  of  the  game  in  the  vineyard,  he/would  have 
it  immediately  dug  out.     Every  year  they  carry  up 
a  quantity  of  the  strong  soil  from  the  bottom  of  the 
vineyard,  which,  as  before  observed,  consists  of  a  yel- 
low clay,  to  mix  with  the  lighter  soil  of  the  higher 
part.     They  also  mix  the  wine  produced  on  the  higher 
part  of  the  vineyard  with  what  is   produced  at  the 
bottom,  to  make  a  perfect  wine.     The  wine  of  the 
higher   part  is  by  itself  too  dry  and  spirituous,  and 
requires  the  mixture  from  the  lower  part  to  give  it 
body.     The  substratum  is  in  some  places  marl,  and 
in  other  places  decayed  (pourri)  roek.     The  cultiva- 
tion is  much  the  same  as  described  for  Chambertin. 
M.  D'Ecrivain  considers  that  the  vineyard  is  .of  the 
proper  degree  of  fulness  when  the  plants  are  fifteen 
inches  apart  in  every  direction.     In  the  course  of 
from  12  to  15  years,  all  the  plants  in  the  vineyard  will 
undergo  the  process  of  provignage ;  but  the  winter  be- 
fore last  appears,  from  all  accounts,  to  have  injured 
the  vines  exceedingly,  and  they  are  every  where  dig- 
ging out  many  of  them  which  have  not  recovered  from 
the  effects  of  the  frost.     M.  Ouvrard,  the  proprietor 
of  Clos  Vougeot,  also  possesses  a  portion  of  Cham- 
bertin, and  it  is  probable  that  to  this  circumstance  the 
latter  is  indebted  for  being  brought  into  notice  ;  for  it 
appears  to  me  indubitable  that  it  only  requires  similar 


,.£  CHAMPAGNE.  121 

treatment  to  make  a  very  large  portion  of  the  Cote 
d'Or  produce  wines  equal  to  those  of  Vougeot  and 
Chambertin.  But  it  requires  a  large  capital  to  effect 
this,  and  a  knowledge  of  commerce  to  make  it  pro- 
fitable ;  and  the  smaller  proprietors  appear  in  gene- 
ral to  endeavour  to  make  up  by  the  quantity,  for  what 
they  sacrifice  in  the  quality,  of  their  wines.  From 
other  accounts  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  pro- 
duce of  a  vineyard  planted  with  the  gamt,  and  ma- 
nured, as  stated  to  me  at  Dijon,  viz.  about  1000  gal- 
lons per  English  acre,  was  not  much  exaggerated. 
After  having  received  from  M.  L'Ecrivain  a  small 
bundle  of  each  of  the  kinds  of  vines  cultivated  in  the 
Clos  Vougeot,  and  thanking  him  for  his  kindness,  I 
took  my  leave,  and  arrived  at  Dijon  at  rather  a  late 
hour. 

Wednesday,  21st  December,  Rheims. — After  hav- 
ing quitted  the  Cote  d'Or,  the  seat  of  the  famous  vine- 
yards of  Burgundy,  there  appeared  little  to  be  worthy 
of  my  attention  till  I  should  reach  Champagne ;  and  I 
therefore  made  the  best  of  my  way  for  this  town,  the 
centre  of  the  district,  in  as  far  at  least  as  the  chief 
trade  in  Champagne  wines  is  concentrated  there.  For 
the  last  two  days  I  had  travelled  through  a  bare,  un- 
interesting country,  consisting  almost  exclusively  of  a 
chalk  subsoil,  with  a  thin  layer  of  vegetable  mould 
on  the  surface.  After  quitting  Dijon,  few  vines  were 
to  be  seen  till  after  having  passed  Chalons-sur-Marne, 
between  which  and  Rheims  are  situated  the  Sillery 
vineyards,  which  produce  the  famous  still  wines  of 
that  name.  The  range  of  hills  lies  to  the  left  of  the 
road,  and  has  an  eastern  exposure,  in  some  places 
even  to  the  north  of  east.  The  small  town  of  Sillery 
is  three  or  four  miles  from  the  nearest  of  them.  Du- 
ring part  of  the  journey  from  Dijon  to  Rheims,  I  tra- 
velled in  company  with  an  officer  of  artillery,  who 
had  gone  to  Algiers  with  the  expedition,  and  had  only 
returned  to  France  about  a  month  before.  The  French 
colony  there  remains  almost  stationary  ;  owing  to  the 
insecurity  of  the  settlers,  there  is  little  or  no  emigra- 
11 


122  RHEIMS. 

tion.  There  are  now  1,500  French  troops  in  the 
country,  and  it  would  require  not  fewer  than  40,000 
to  protect  the  settlers  within  25  miles  of  Algiers.  Al- 
lotments of  land  are  only  made  to  actual  labourers., 
and  not  to  a  greater  extent  than  from  8  to  20  acres 
each,  and  there  is  generally  also  a  house  and  garden. 
The  land  granted  by  the  French  government  was  the 
property  of  those  who  abandoned  their  homes  on  the 
French  taking  possession  ;  those  Xvho  remained  were 
undisturbed  in  their  property.  There  are  also  exten- 
sive domains  which  belonged  to  the  dey  or  the  go- 
vernment. Merino  sheep  are  plentiful,  and  in  large 
flocks ;  the  mutton  is  excellent.  Beef  is  riot  so  good. 
The  French  have  made  excellent  wine  from  very  de- 
licious grapes.  The  civil  courts  of  justice  are  still 
preserved  as  before,  and  the  same  officers  employed. 
The  same  taxes  are  also  raised,  but  they  are  of  tri- 
fling amount.  Most  of  the  emigrants,  including  Swiss. 
Germans,  Italians,  and  a  few  Spaniards,  have  be- 
come dealers,  leaving  to  the  Bedouins  the  cultivation 
of  their  land.  The  hostile  Bedouins  come  down  upon 
the  outposts  in  bands  of  15,000  or  20,000,  but  they 
cannot  withstand  the  attacks  of  a  small  body  of  dis- 
ciplined troops. 

The  very  eminent  wine  house  of  Messrs.  Ruinart 
and  Son,  of  itheims,  are  agents  for  Herries,  Farquhar 
and  Co.'s  notes.  Having  called  upon  them  to  cash 
one  of  these,  M.  Ruinart,  junior,  conducted  me  over 
their  wine  cellars,  which  are  very  extensive,  and  all 
subterranean,  consisting  of  three  under-ground  stores, 
one  beneath  another,  all  mined  out  of  the  limestone 
rock.  The  wine  which  has  received  the  last  atten- 
tions which  it  requires,  and  is  ready  for  expediting 
to  the  consumer,  is  packed  in  large  square  masses, 
bottle  above  bottle,  and  side  by  side,  with  no  other 
precaution  to  keep  them  steady  than  a  lath  passing 
along  between  the  necks  of  one  layer  and  the  butts  of 
the  next  layer  above.  They  generally  send  the  wine 
to  the  consumer  at  the  age  of  three  and  four  years, 
but  after  the  first  winter,  it  is  all  put  in  bottle.  The 


JBJI  RHEIMS.  123 

stock,  therefore,  appears  immense,  and,  indeed,  it  is 
very  large,  for  not  only  are  different  qualities  required, 
but  also  different  descriptions,  to  suit  the  varying  tastes 
of  their  customers  in  England,  America,  and  Russia, 
to  which  countries  Messrs.  Ruinart  make  their  chief 
exports.  A  gentleman,  with  whom  I  travelled,  told  me 
he  could  buy  very  good  sound  Champagne  at  Chalons 
for  two  francs  a  bottle,  and  was  then  going  to  purchase 
100  bottles  at  that  price  ;  but  respectable  wine  mer- 
chants never  send  any  to  England  under  three 
francs  a  bottle.  What  is  sent  to  England  is  more  spi- 
rituous, and  froths  more  strongly  than  what  is  sold  for 
domestic  consumption.  The  greatest  and  most  mi- 
nute attentions  are  necessary  in  preparing  Champagne. 
The  casks  in  which  it  ferments,  after  running  from 
the  press,  are  previously  sulphured,'  to  prevent  the 
fermentation  from  proceeding  to  too  great  a  length. 
It  is  twice  clarified  during  the  winter,  and  in  the 
month  of  March,  before  the  return  of  spring  has  re- 
newed the  fermentation,  it  is  bottled  off.  When  in 
this  state  the  bottles  are  placed  in  frames,  diagonally, 
xvith  their  heads  downwards.  The  lees  are  thus  col- 
lected in  the  neck  of  the  bottle ;  but  they  do  not  consi- 
der it  necessary  to  uncork  the  bottles  as  soon  as  the 
wine  is  perfectly  clear,  nor  is  it  considered  that  there 
is  any  danger  of  the  wine  spoiling  if  the  return  of 
warm  weather  should  cause  a  recommencement  of 
the  fermentation,  and  remix  the  lees  through  the 
wine.  On  the  contrary,  they  sometimes  allow  the  lees 
to  remain  to  ripen,  as  they  term  it,  longer  than  usual. 
The  wine,  in  general,  remains  in  this  state  till  the  fol- 
lowing winter  ;  each  bottle  is  then  placed  in  a  frame, 
and  carefully  uncorked.  The  contents  of  the  neck  of 
the  bottle  are  emptied.  It  is  filled  up  from  another 
bottle  of  the  same  wine,  and  being  recorked,  only  now 
requires  age  to  give  it  all  the  perfection  it  is  capable 
of.  It  of  course  often  happens,  that  the  wine  has 
either  undergone  less  than  the  usual  fermentation,  or, 
being  stronger  than  usual,  requires  a  greater  fermen- 
tation before  being  put  into  bottles  ;  and  it  consequent- 


124  CHAMPAGNE. 

ly  happens  that  the  fermentation  in  the  bottles  is 
greater  than  they  can  bear,  and  that  a  large  propor- 
tion of  them  burst  during  the  first  summer.  The  floors 
of  the  wine  cellars  are  all  covered  with  grooves  slo- 
ping to  a  gutter,  by  which  the  wine  which  has  burst  the 
bottles  is  conveyed  to  a  cistern  in  the  floor  ;  and  as 
there  is  most  perfect  cleanliness  observed,  a  part  of 
the  wine  is  thus  sometimes  saved. 

M.  Ruinart,  junior,  is  a  large  proprietor  of  vines 
at  Ay,  where  the  first  qualities  of  frothing  Cham- 
pagne are  made,  and  to  this  place  he  strongly  recom- 
mended  my  proceeding,  in  order  to  have  the  most 
view  of  the  vineyards  of  Champagne,  of 
which,  he  said,  the  cultivation  was  every  where  near- 
ly  similar,  although  conducted  at  different  places  with 
•'  more  or  less  care.  He  says  the  ordinary  produce  of 
his  own  vineyards  is  from  10  to  12  pieces,  of  about 
46  gallons  per  arpent,  which  is  about  a  25th  part 
more  than  an  English  acre  ;  that  is,  from  440  to  530 
gallons  per  English  acre.  Having  determined  on 
visiting  Ay,  M.  Ruinart  gave  me  a  letter  to  his  mana- 
ger, but  he  said  he  expected  him  next  day  at  Rheims, 
and  would  give  him  full  instructions  on  seeing  him. 

Thursday,  22d  December. — At  six  o'clock  this 
morning  I  joined  the  voiture  for  Epernay,  where  I 
arrived  at  eleven  o'clock.  After  breakfast  I  imme- 
diately proceeded  to  Ay,  intending  to  return  the  next 
day  also  to  meet  the  agent  of  M.  Ruinart,  should  I 
not  be  satisfied  with  the  information  I  might  procure 
in  his  absence.  Ay  is  a  small  town  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river  Marne,  a  little  higher  up  than  Epernay, 
which  is  situated  on  the  left  bank.  On  both  sides  of 
the  river  there  is  a  range  of  chalky  hills,  but  separated 
also  by  a  very  beautiful  meadow  about  a  mile  in 
width.  These  hills  are  of  no  great  elevation,  and  are 
more  or  less  steep,  but  in  no  place  is  the  soil  required 
to  be  supported  by  terraces.  The  range  of  hills 
above  the  town  of  Ay  is  exposed  to  the  full  south, 
except  where  the  exposure  is  varied  by  recesses  in 
the  range  ;  it  consequently  produces  wine  of  the 


EPERNAY  AND  AY.  125 

finest  quality,  and  very  superior  to  that  of  Epernay, 
which  is  produced  on  hills  exposed  to  the  north.  I 
walked  through  the  meadow  with  great  difficulty  and 
labour,  the  road  being  almost  impassable  in  some 
places,  owing  to  the  depth  of  the  mud.  On  arriving 
at  Ay,  I  delivered  my  letter  to  Madam  Hazart,  the 
wife  of  M.  Ruinart's  manager,  and  expressed  my 
doubts  whether  I  should  return  the  next  day.  She 
immediately  called  the  maitre  vigneron  to  proceed 
with  me  to  the  vineyard,  and  another  to  obtain  the 
plants  which  the  letter  expressed  my  wish  to  procure. 
The  depth  of  soil,  before  reaching  the  chalk  on  the 
hill  of  Ay,  is,  in  most  places,  according  to  the  report 
of  the  vigneron,  10  to  15  feet ;  nor  is  he  aware  of  any 
difference  being^ 'occasioned  in  the  quality  of  the  wine 
when  the  chalkNcomes  nearer  the  surface,  which  hap- 
pens a  little  farther  to  the  east,  where  they  also  make 
wines  of  the  first  quality.  The  soil  is  strongly  cal- 
careous, full  of  small  pieces  of  chalk,  and  of  stones. 
Near  the  top  of  the  hill  the  soil  is  more  argillaceous 
and  stronger  than  towards  the  bottom  ;  and  this,  in 
some  degree,  affects  the  quality  of  the  wine,  but  not 
in  a  great  degree.  The  great  difference  is  caused  by 
difference  in  exposure,  that  to  the  south  producing 
uniformly  the  best ;  where  the  soil  is  the  same  from 
the  top  to  the  bottom,  the  middle  region  of  the  hill  is 
still  the  most  valuable,  for  it  is  less  subject  to  the  in- 
juries which  early  frosts  frequently  occasion  in  the 
lower  region,  and  enjoys  in  general  a  warmer  sun, 
especially  towards  the  close  of  the  season,  tha«  the 
top.  When  the  season  has  been  extremely  fine  and 
warm  from  beginning  to  end,  the  wine  of  the  higher 
and  lower  regions  of  the  hill  equals  that  of  the  middle 
region.  If  I  was  struck  with  the  closeness  of  the 
plants  in  Burgundy,  the  closeness  of  these  was  more 
remarkable  still.  The  vigneron  said,  that  if  it  were 
possible  to  keep  the  vineyard  fully  furnished  with 
plants,  there  would  be  one  for  each  8  or  9  inches  in 
length,  by  6  or  7  in  breadth.  The  supposition  which 
1  made  to  illustrate  the  mode  of  provignage  in  Bur- 
11* 


1 26  CHAMPAGNE. 

gundy  is  actually  realized  here.  Every  year  an  ad- 
dition is  made  to  the  bottom  of  the  vineyard  of  a  cer- 
tain number  of  plants,  and  the  whole  of  the  vines  are 
in  a  state  of  continual  progression,  being  buried,  and 
by  that  means  carried  12  or  14  inches  up  the  hill 
every  third  year.  The  process  is  of  course  not  regu- 
lar, for  in  every  place  there  are  plants  in  each  stage 
of  the  progress  which  they  pass  through.  According 
to  the  number  of  the  voids  to  be  filled,  the  branches  of 
the  stock  that  is  buried  are  from  two  to  four  or  five. 
On  each  of  these  branches,  when  pruned  in  the  spring, 
are  left  two  buds ;  these  buds  produce  branches  or 
shoots,  which  bear  fruit  the  first  year.  The  next 
spring  three  buds  are  left  upon  the  higher,  and  two 
upon  the  lower  of  the  two  shoots,  and  the  spring  fol- 
lowing they  are  pruned  to  bear  shoots  corresponding 
to  the  number  of  voids  to  be  filled  in  their  neighbour- 
hood, for  their  turn  to  be  buried  has  again  arrived- 
By  this  means,  also,  a  supply  of  rooted  plants  is  ob- 
tained when  they  are  required  ;  but  when  these  root- 
ed plants  are  cut  off,  and  planted  out,  they  never  bear 
fruit  till  the  third  year.  The  maitre  vigneron  said, 
he  believed  the  roots  never  die.  They  frequently 
trace  them  to  a  very  great  length,  but  never  disturb 
them,  always  burying  tho  others  above  them.  The 
produce  per  arpent,  he  says,  sometimes  amounts  to 
15  pieces,  (660  gallons  per  acre,)  and  the  small  pro- 
prietors, who  manure  their  vines  more  strongly,  have 
frequently  16.  M.  Ruinart  himself  told  me,  that  he 
knew  instances  of  four  arpents  giving  100  pieces, 
1,100  gallons  per  acre.  The  manure  is  always  added 
to  the  plants  which  have  been  buried ;  a  handful  of 
earth  is  first  put  over  the  plant,  and  the  manure  above. 
They  are,  however,  extremely  cautious  as  to  the 
quality  of  the  manure.  In  some  places  I  observed 
dung  from  the  farm  yard  mixed  with  the  soil,  but  in 
general  it  was  only  strong  soil  from  the  valley  below, 
mixed  with  ashes,  and  other  amendments  of  a  mild 
description. 

I  here  closed  my  examination  of  the  vineyards  of 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS.  127 

France,  there  being  no  point  unexplained  of  sufficient 
importance  to  induce  me  to  wait  another  day  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  M.  Ruinart's  steward.  Next  morn- 
ing the  maitre  vigneron  brought  me  three  small  bun- 
dles of  plants,  which,  he  said,  were  the  only  varieties 
cultivated  in  the  vineyards  which  produce  good  wine. 
The  black  and  white  Pineau,  according  to  M.  Rui- 
nart's statement,  and  as  is  generally  understood,  are 
the  varieties  of  vines  cultivated  in  Champagne,  as 
well  as  in  Burgundy.  The  vigneron  brought  me  twro 
black  varieties,  which  he  called  the  plant  vert,  and 
plant  dore,  and  one  white.  The  plant  dore,  he  said, 
was  introduced  into  the  vineyards  of  M.  Ruinart  only 
a  few  years  ago,  and  was  not  common  in  the  coun- 
try. It  is  much  more  productive  than  the  other  two 
varieties.  These  plants  were  all  rooted,  having  been 
cut  from  stocks  that  had  been  buried  the  preceding 
season  ;  they  had  each  two  branches,  and  are  sold  in 
the  country  at  the  rate  of  a  halfpenny  each.  These 
plants  were  very  abundant  this  season,  for  a  vast 
number  had  been  destroyed  by  the  severity  of  the 
winter  1829-30,  audit  was  necessary  to  provide  plants 
to  replace  them.  To  such  an  extent  were  the  vine- 
yards injured  during  that  season,  that  in  some  places 
the  quantity  of  wine  produced  did  not  exceed  from  2 
to  3  pieces  per  arpent.  With  such  difficulties  to  over- 
come, the  vineyards  of  Champagne  and  Burgundy 
are  striking  examples  of  the  effects  of  industry  and 
skill.  Nothing  can  contrast  more  strongly  than  the 
small  and  puny  shoots  of  the  vines  of  Champagne  and 
Burgundy,  compared  with  the  strong  and  vigorous 
branches  of  the  vines  of  Spain  ;  yet  have  the  care  and 
skill  of  the  cultivators  produced,  in  the  former  countries, 
a  wine  equal  in  value  to  the  best  of  those  produced 
in  the  most  favoured  climates,  and,  notwithstanding 
ail  their  losses,  much  more  abundant  in  quantity. 

Having  recorded  with  so  much  minuteness  my  ob- 
servations on  every  vineyard  and  district  through 
which  I  passed,  I  will  avoid  adding  to  the  length  of 
this  journal  by  offering  many  general  remarks.  I 


128  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

cannot,  however,  refrain  from  observing,  that  from 
the  albarizas  of  Xeres,  the  most  southern  vineyards 
of  any  reputation  in  Europe,  to  those  of  the  chalky 
hills  of  Champagne,  amongst  the  most  northern,  I 
met  with  no  vineyard  producing  dry  wines  of  repu- 
tation, which  was  not,  more  or  less,  calcareous.  Al- 
though it  is  acknowledged  that  two  thirds  of  the  vine- 
yards of  France  are  situated  upon  soil  more  or  less 
calcareous,  by  Chaptal,  and  other  writers  upon  tho 
subject,  they  have  stated,  that  provided  the  soil  is 
porous,  free,  and  light,  its  component  parts  are  of 
little  consequence ;  and  they  enumerate  granitic, 
schistose,  argillaceous,  flinty,  sandy,  and  calcareous 
soils,  as  equally  well  qualified  to  produce,  and  as  act- 
ually producing,  in  different  parts  of  France,  wines 
of  the  finest  quality.  It  appears  evident  to  me,  how- 
ever, that  these  writers  have,  in  many  instances,  been 
misled  by  the  representations  which  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  them ;  as,  for  instance,  when  Chaptal  and 
Cavoleau*  cite  the  wine  of  Hermitage  as  an  instance 
of  the  excellence  of  wines  produced  upon  the  debris 
of  granite  ;  while  the  fact  is,  that  the  wine  of  the  hill 
of  Hermitage  owes  its  superiority  over  the  wines  of 
the  other  hills  in  its  neighbourhood  only  to  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  granitic  soil  of  a  part  of  that  hill 
being  mixed  with  calcareous  matter  ;  and  but  for  this 
circumstance,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  wine  of  Hermit- 
age would  never  have  been  heard  of  be)rond  the 
neighbourhood  where  it  grows.  I  am  therefore  of 
opinion,  that  the  finest  dry  wines  owe  their  superiority 
chiefly  to  the  quality  of  the  soil ;  and  I  am  much  mis- 
taken if  it  be  not  found  that  the  soils  of  all  vineyards 
producing  dry  wines  of  superior  excellence  are  strong- 
ly calcareous.  All  my  observations  have  led  me  to 
this  conclusion,  and  I  know  of  no  instance  to  the  con- 
trary. It  will  be  observed,  that  I  here  only  speak  of 
dry  wines,  for  sweet  wines  of  great  excellence  are 
produced  in  a  variety  of  soils,  and,  in  fact,  owe  their 

*  (Enologie  Francaise,ou  Stotistiqne  de  Tous  les  Vignobles  de  France. 
Parit,  18-J7. 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS.  129 

qualities  more  to  the  variety  of  the  grape,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  treated,  than  to  the  soil.     The 
sweet  Muscat  and  Old  Mountain  wines  of  Malaga 
are  celebrated  all  over  the  world ;  but  though  they 
have  the  same  varieties  of  vines  at  Malaga  as  at 
Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  and  pursue  a  similar  practice 
in  making  the  wine,  the  best  of  their  dry  wines,  pro- 
duced on  a  soil  consisting  of  decomposed  slaty  schist, 
are  insipid  and  flavourless  when  compared  with  the 
Sherries  which  are  produced  on  the  chalky  hills  of 
Xeres.     The  sweet  wine  of  Rivesaltes,  the  most  cele- 
brated in  France,  is  produced  on  a  granitic  soil  cover- 
ed with  pebbles  ;  and  the  sweet  wines  of  Cosperon 
and  Collioure,  in  the  same  department,  are  produced 
on  hills;  of  schist,  as  nearly  as  possible  resembling 
those  of  Malaga.     But  though  the  dry  wines  of  both 
these  soils  are  well  known,  they  are  not  distinguished 
for  their  fineness  or  flavour.     Their  excellencies  are 
their  strength  and  rich  colour,  which  make  them  valua- 
ble for  mixing    with    the  weak  and  light  coloured 
wines  of  the  ordinary  growths  of  Burgundy  and  Ma- 
§on,  which  supply  the  chief  consumption  of  Paris. 

The  limited  extent  of  the  first-rate  vineyards  is  pro- 
verbial ;  and  writers  upon  the  subject  have  almost  uni- 
versally concluded  that  it  is  in  vain  to  attempt  account- 
ing for  the  amazing  differences  which  are  frequently 
observed  in  the  produce  of  vineyards  similar  in  soil,  and 
in  every  other  respect,  and  separated  from  each  other 
only  by  a  fence  or  a  footpath.  My  own  observations 
have  led  me  to  believe,  that  there  is  more  of  quackery 
than  of  truth  in  this.  In  all  those  districts  which  pro- 
duce wines  of  high  reputation,  some  few  individuals 
have  seen  the  advantage  of  selecting  a  particular  varie- 
ty of  grape,  and  of  managing  its  culture  so  as  to  bring 
it  to  the  highest  state  of  perfection  of  which  it  is  capa- 
ble. The  same  care  has  been  extended  to  the  making, 
and  subsequent  management  of  their  wine,  by  seizing 
the  most  favourable  moment  for  the  vintage,  by  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  grapes  are  gathered  and 
pressed,  so  that  the  whole  contents  of  each  vat  may 
be  exactly  in  the  same  state,  and  a  simultaneous  and 


130  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

equal  fermentation  be  secured  throughout ;  by  exer- 
cising equal  discrimination  and  care  in  the  time  and 
manner  of  drawing  off  the  wine,  and  in  its  subsequent 
treatment  in  the  vats  or  casks  where  it  is  kept ;  and 
lastly,  by  not  selling  the  wine  till  it  should  have 
acquired  all  the  perfection  which  it  could  acquire 
from  age  ;  and  by  selling,  as  the  produce  of  their  own 
vineyards,  only  such  vintages  as  were  calculated  to 
acquire  or  maintain  its  celebrity.  By  these  means 
have  the  vineyards  of  a  few  individuals  acquired  a 
reputation  which  has  enabled  the  proprietors  to  com- 
mand almost  their  own  prices  for  their  wines ;  and  it 
was  evidently  the  interest  of  such  persons  that  the  ex- 
cellence of  their  wines  should  be  imputed  to  the  pe- 
culiarity in  the  soil,  rather  than  to  a  system  of  manage- 
ment which  others  might  imitate.  It  is  evident,  how- 
ever, that  for  all  this  a  command  of  capital  is  required, 
which  is  not  often  found  among  proprietors  of  vine- 
yards ;  and  to  this  cause,  more  than  to  any  other,  it 
is  undoubtedly  to  be  traced,  that  a  few  celebrated 
properties  have  acquired,  and  maintained,  almost  a 
monopoly  in  the  production  of  fine  wines. 

On  my  arrival  at  Paris,  I  waited  upon  the  director 
of  the  Royal  Nursery  of  the  Luxembourg,  and  in- 
quired whether  I  could  get  the  deficiencies  supplied 
in  my  list  of  vines  procured  at  Montpelier.  He 
replied,  certainly  ;  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
the  matter,  for  any  plant  could  be  procured  from 
the  nursery  at  a  regulated  price.  That  for  vine 
cuttings  was  two  francs  and  a  half  per  hundred. 
I  therefore  delivered  him  my  list,  with  the  deficien- 
cies marked,  to  the  number  of  133,  and  of  these 
110  were  supplied,  two  plants  each.  I  here  also 
procured  six  cuttings  each,  of  sixteen  of  the  most  va- 
lued varieties  of  vines  which  are  cultivated  in  those 
provinces  which  I  did  not  myself  visit;  and  after 
very  considerable  difficulty,  I  obtained  a  copy  of  the 
printed  catalogue  of  the  Royal  Nursery  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg, including  a  list  of  the  collection  of  vines. 

END  OF  TUE  JOURNAL. 


APPENDIX. 


ON  my  arrival  in  London,  having  heard  that  seve- 
ral convict  ships  were  on  the  point  of  sailing,  I  lost 
no  time  in  addressing  to  the  principal  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Colonies,  the  following  letter  : — 

(COPY.) 

"  London,  6rA  January,  1832. 
"My  LORD, 

"  Having  occupied  myself  a  good  deal  during  my  residence  in 
New  South  Wales,  in  endeavouring  to  promote  the  plantation  of 
vineyards,  and  the  making  of  vvirie  in  that  Colony,  I  could  not 
allow  the  opportunity  afforded  by  my  visit  to  Europe  to  pass,  with, 
out  attempting  to  ascertain  to  what  peculiarities  of  climate,  soil,, 
or  culture,  the  most  celebrated  wine  provinces  are  indebted  for  the 
excellence  of  their  respective  products  ;  and  to  make  a  collection 
of  the  different  varieties  of  vines  cultivated  in  each.  I  have  just 
returned  to  England,  after  an  absence  of  four  months  spent  in  pur- 
suit of  these  objects  in  France  and  Spain,  and  the  results  of  my 
journey  have  fully  satisfied  me  that  the  opinion  I  have  always  en- 
tertained of  their  great  importance  was  not  exaggerated. 

"  My  reason  for  troubling  your  Lordship  on  this  subject,  how- 
ever, is  the  following  : — 

"  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  find,  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Mont- 
pelier,  a  collection  of  most  of  the  varieties  of  vines  cultivated  in 
France,  and  in  some  other  parts  of  Europe,  to  the  number  of  437  ; 
and,  on  application  to  the  Professor  of  Botany,  he  (with  the  "great- 
est liberality)  permitted  me  to  take  cuttings  from  the  whole.  I 
afterwards  added  to  this  collection  133  from  the  Royal  Nursery  of 
the  Luxembourg  at  Paris,  making  in  the  whole  570  varieties  of 
vines,  of  all  of  which,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  I  obtained 
two  cuttings.* 

"  It  is  my  wish  to  place  this  collection  of  vines  at  the  disposal 
of  His  Majesty's  Government,  for  the  purpose,  should  it  be  deemed 
expedient,  of  forming  an  experimental  Garden  at  Sydney,  to  prove 
their  different  qualities,  and  propagate,  for  general  distribution, 
those  which  may  appear  most,  suitable  to  the  climate. 

*  There  was  an  error  in  this,  as  will  be  seen  from  page  134.  The  Di- 
rector of  the  garden  did  not  tell  me  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  supply  the 
whole  deficiency,  and  it  was  not  dist-overed,  till  after  they  were  unpacked 
at  Kew,  that  only  110  had  been  supplied. 


132  APPENDIX. 

"  As,  independently  of  the  above,  I  have  secured  a  competent 
quantity  of  all  the  most  valuable  varieties  which  I  found  cultivated 
in  the  best  wine  districts  of  France  and  Spain,  both  for  wine  and 
raisins,  it  might  at  first  sight  appear  superfluous  to  bestow  atten- 
tion on  a  collection  which  must  include  many  of  a  very  inferior 
description  ;  but  it  is,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable  fact  connected 
with  the  culture  of  the  vine,  that  even  a  slight  change  of  climate 
or  soil  produces  a  most  material  change  in  the  qualities  of  its  pro- 
duce ;  and  for  this  reason  the  best  varieties  of  France  and  Spain 
may  prove  (as  several  of  them  have  already  proved)  of  no  value  in 
New  South  Wales,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  most  indifferent 
kinds  may  produce  in  that  climate  the  most  valuable  wines. 

"  For  this  reason  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  establishment  of  an 
Experimental  Garden  at  Sydney  could  not  fail  to  be  of  the  highest 
value  to  the  Colonies  of  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  and  subsequently  to  that  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  also  ; 
while  at  the  same  time,  being  placed  under  the  care  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  Government  Garden,  adjoining  which  there  is  abun- 
dance of  vacant  ground,  it  would  add  little  to  the  present  expense 
of  that  establishment. 

"  It  is  my  intention,  also,  to  place  a  part  of  the  collection  I  have 
made  in  the  different  parts  of  France  and  Spain  which  I  have 
visited,  in  the  Public  Garden,  to  be  propagated  for  general  distribu- 
tion. I  trust  I  may,  therefore,  be  excused  for  requesting  that  your 
Lordship  will  give  orders  that  the  cases  containing  these  plants 
(those  from  France  being  now  in  London,  and  those  from  Spain 
being  expected  by  the  first  arrivals  from  Cadiz  and  Malaga)  may 
be  received  on  board  any  of  the  convict  ships  about  to  sail,  in  order 
to  secure  their  early  and  safe  arrival  in  the  Colony. 
"  I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

"Mr  LORD, 
"Your  Lordship's  most  obedient  hnniblo  Servant, 

"JAMES  BUSBY." 

"  The  Right  Honourable  Lord  Goderich,    i 
His  Majesty's  principal  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Colonies,  <£c.  <J-c.  <£c."  ) 

The  accommodation  I  requested  having  been  im- 
mediately ordered,  I  set  about  having  the  plants  trans- 
ferred to  more  substantial  packages,  and  packed  in 
sand  and  earth,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  sustain  the 
vegetation  which  would  result  from  the  hot  weather 
in  passing  the  tropics.*  By  the  invitation  of  Mr. 

*  I  beg  here  to  mention,  that  I  communicated  to  several  of  the  most  emi- 
nent Horticulturists  and  Botanists,  in  London  and  Edinburgh,  Messrs.  Au- 
dibert'a  plan  of  packing  plants  in  cases  lined  with  oiled  paper,  (see  page 
93,)  to  all  of  whom  the  plun  was  entirely  new,  and  all  of  whom  acknow- 
ledged k  to  be  a  valuable  communication.  The  success  which  attended  it 
in  the  case  of  these  vine  cuttings  is  decisive  in  its  favour. 


APPENDIX.  133 

Kichard  Cunningham,  then  of  the  Royal  Gardens  of 
Kew,  and  since,  fortunately  for  the  Colony,  appointed 
Colonial  Botanist  of  New  South  Wales,  I  transferred 
the  cases  to  Kew,  where  Mr.  Cunningham  himself 
superintended  their  packing,  and  I  feel  persuaded  that 
to  his  care  I  am,  in  a  great  measure,  indebted  for  the 
excellent  condition  in  which  they  arrived  at  Sydney. 
Mr.  Cunningham  also  found  the  cuttings  sufficiently 
long  to  afford  a  short  cutting  from  each.  These  he 
took  the  trouble  to  plant  out  in  open  boxes,  and  be- 
fore leaving  England  he  had  shipped  them  on  board 
the  Camden  convict  ship  for  Sydney,  in  such  excel- 
lent condition,  that  he  expresses  himself  as  having  no 
doubt  of  their  safe  arrival  ;  and  he  is  also  confident 
that  the  deficiencies  in  the  first  importation  may  be 
made  good  from  them.  Should  Mr.  Cunningham's 
anticipations  in  this  respect  be  realized,  I  will  have 
the  satisfaction  of  having  transferred  to  the  Colony, 
without  any  expense  to  the  public,  and  almost  in  a 
complete  state,  a  national  collection  of  vines,  which 
it  was  for  three  quarters  of  a  century  the  favourite 
project  of  writers  on  Agriculture,  and  Agricultural 
Societies  in  France,  to  collect,  and  which  was  at 
length  accomplished  at  a  very  considerable  expense 
to  the  country,  by  the  Count  de  Chaptal,  when  Minis- 
ter of  the  Interior  under  Buonaparte. 

My  worthy  friends  in  Malaga  and  Xeres  de  la 
Frontera,  did  not  neglect  the  commissions  they  had 
undertaken,  and  I  received  in  London  three  cases  of 
vines  from  Malaga,  and  one  case  from  Xeres  de  la 
Frontera ;  but  these  arrived  at  too  late  a  period  to 
be  sent  to  the  Colony  in  close  cases,  and  it  therefore 
became  necessary  to  establish  them  in  open  boxes. 
Mr.  Cunningham  undertook  this  labour  also,  and  a 
portion  of  each  variety  of  the  Spanish  vines  are  now 
also  on  their  way  to  the  Colony  with  the  others  on 
board  the  Camden. 

Of  the  following  catalogue  of  vines,  amounting  to 
75  varieties,  52  were   actually  collected  from   the 
vineyards  I  myself  visited  in  the  various  provinces  ot 
12 


134  Al'PEMHX. 

France  through  which  my  route  lay.  Of  each  of  these 
I  procured  from  10  to  20  cuttings,  and  I  am  happy 
to  say  that  not  one  of  the  varieties  is  lost.  Of  the  five 
varieties  procured  in  the  more  northern  climates  of 
Burgundy  and  Champagne,  as  well  as  of  the  15  varie- 
ties procured  at  Paris,  many  of  the  cuttings  are  dead, 
and  one  of  the  latter  varieties  is  entirely  lost.  But  of 
the  47  varieties  procured  from  the  warmer  climates 
of  the  south,  not  10  cuttings  out  of  from  500  to  -600, 
have  failed.  The  rest,  with  few  exceptions,  are  at 
this  date  (22d  January,  1833)  in  the  highest  state  of 
health  and  vigour ;  and  it  is  but  justice  to  Mr."  M'Lean, 
of  the  Botanic  Garden,  under  whose  care  they  have 
remained  since  their  arrival,  to  acknowledge  the  zeal 
and  attention  with  which  he  has  acquitted  himself  of 
the  charge. 


VIXES  OF  UOUSILLON.  135 


CATALOGUE   FIRST. 

[The  vines  in  this  Catalogue  are  arranged  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  received  by  Mr.  Busby,  and  described  to  him,  with 
the  exception  of  eight  varieties  of  rooted  plants  at  the  end  of 
the  list.] 

Vines  of  Rousillon,  from  the  Vineyards  of  M.  Durand, 
of  Perpignan. 

No.  1.  CARIGNAN — Crignane,  Cavoleau — black,  with 
a  thick  skin,  deeply  coloured,  yields  largely. 
'  This  grape  by  itself  would  produce  a  dry  wine. 
Cavoleau  says  of  this  grape,  that  it  is  rich  in  sac- 
charine matter,  although  harsh  to  the  taste,  and 
very  mucilaginous. 

—  2.  GRENACHE — black,  skin  very  thick,  but  yield- 

ing less  colour  than  that  of  the  preceding.  This 
grape  by  itself  would  yield  a  sweet  wine.  Ca- 
voleau adds  of  this  grape,  that  it  is  rich  in  sac- 
charine matter,  and  strongly  impregnated  with 
aroma. 

—  3.  MATARO — black,   skin  less  thick,  but  yielding 

a  good  deal  of  colour.  This  grape  yields  the 
most  abundantly,  and  of  itself  would  give  a  dry 
wine.  Cavoleau  observes,  that  this  is  the  only 
vine  of  the  province  that  yields  annual,  and  al- 
most equal,  vintages  ;  the  other  varieties  some- 
times yield  abundantly,  but  their  produce  is 
uncertain. 


NOTE — The  above  three  varieties  are,  in  general,  equally  distribu- 
ted in  the  vineyards  of  the  department  of  the  Pyrenees  Orientales, 
and  furnish  the  wine  of  exportation  known  by  the  name  of  Vin 
de  Routillon. 


136  APPENDIX. 

No.  4.  MOURASTELL — black.  This  variety  differs  verf 
little  from  the  Mataro,  but  the  grapes  are  ra- 
ther smaller. 

—  5.  ST.  ANTOINE — black  ;  the  grape  very  large.  It 
is  a  very  good  eating  grape,  although  the  skin 
is  rather  strong.  The  wine  made  from  this 
grape  by  itself  has  a  very  agreeable  flavour, 
but  it  yields  very  little. 

—  6.  BLANQUETTE — white,    thin-skinned,  of  a  very 

good  flavour,  yielding  a  heady  white  wine, 
which  is  employed  in  giving  strength  to  the 
light  white  wines  of  Languedoc. 

—  7.  MUSCAT,  a  strongly  flavoured  white  grape — 

excellent  for  eating — yields  little,  and  arrives 
early  at  maturity. 

—  S.  PIQUE- POULLE,  a  pink-coloured  grape — very 

fine  skinned,  and  excellent  for  eating.  It  yields 
a  light-coloured  wine  (clairet)  of  agreeable  fla- 
vour. Cavoleau  says,  that  the  wine  of  this 
grape  is  distinguished  for  its  agreeable  bou- 
quet. 

—  9.  HERMITAGE.     This   variety  was  brought  to 

Rousillon  some  years  ago  by  M.  Durand,  from 
the  celebrated  vineyards  of  Hermitage,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhone»  It  yields  little,  but  the 
flavour  of  its  produce  is  excellent.  The  wine 
made  from  this  grape  in  Rousillon,  has  less 
"finesse?  but  more  strength  than  in  its  ori- 
ginal soil. 

-  10.  The  vines  in  this  bundle  were  obtained  at  Col- 
lioure,  about  30  miles  south-east  of  Perpignan, 
and  the  bundle  originally  contained  four  va- 
rieties: viz. — PANSE,  10  cuttings;  PAMPA- 
NELLE,  6  cuttings ;  PIQUE  POULLE  NOIR,  5  cut- 
tings ;  GRENACHE  BLANCHE,  3  cuttings.  But 
these  descriptions  were  unfortunately  mixed, 
and  the  bundle  reduced  to  12  in  all.  The  de- 
scriptions given  of  the  different  varieties  at 
Collioure  were  as  follows  :. 


VINES  OF  RIVES  AI/TES.  137 

No.  10-1.  PANSE — white — the  bunches  very  large  and 
long — the  berries  also  large  and  long — produ- 
ces plentifully — the  flavour  resembles  the  Mus- 
cat. It  is  good  both  for  wine,  and  for  eating 
— ripens  rather  early,  and  is  a  scarce  variety 
in  that  district. 

—  10-2.  PAMPAJVELLE — black,  a  very  delicious  grape, 

but  very  tender.  It  produces  abundantly,  but 
is  destroyed  in  such  quantities  by  the  bees, 
that  there  is  seldom  much  fruit  gathered.  It 
also  decays  easily  after  rain. 

—  10-3.  PIQUE  POULLE  NOIR — black.     This  variety 

of  the  pique  poulle  does  not  produce  much, 
excepting  in  very  favourable  seasons.  It 
yields  a  light  wine,  which  is  very  early  fit  for 
use. 

—  10-4.  GRENACHE  BLANCHE— white.     This  variety 

of  the  grenache  is  only  used  in  the  district  of 
Collioure  to  hang  up  for  winter  provision  of 
grapes.  It  produces  plentifully — the  bunches 
large — the  skin  very  tough,  and  it  has  always 
a  bitter  taste. 

The  four  following  varieties  are  from  Rivesaltes,  famous  for  the 
sweet  wine  produced  there,  which  bears  the  highest  reputation 
of  any  Fin  deLiqueur  in  France. 

No.  11.  MAUABEO — white.  This  variety  of  itself 
yields  a  sweet  wine,  almost  equal  to  the  Mus- 
cat. The  bunches  are  large,  and  keep  well 
when  suspended  for  winter  provision.  Cavo- 
leau  observes,  that  small  quantities  of  Maca- 
beo  wine  are  made  by  private  families  for  do- 
mestic consumption,  but  it  is  never  found  in 
commerce. 

. —  12.  MUSCAT.  This  is  the  grape  which  is  chiefly 
employed  in  making  the  celebrated  sweet  wine 
of  Rivesaltes.  According  to  the  statement 
made  by  the  vigneron,  from  whom  the  cuttings 
were  procured,  500  stocks  yield  200  bottles  of 
wine.  Cavoleau  observes,  that  there  are  three 
12* 


138  APPENDIX. 

varieties  of  the  Muscat  employed  in  making 
the  wine  of  Rivesaltes  ;  viz. — "  The  Muscat 
of  Alexandria — the  round  white  Muscat,  and 
particularly  the  St.  Jacques."  It  is  not  ascer- 
tained to  which  of  these  descriptions  this  vari- 
ety belongs. 

f  GRENACHE  BLANCHE.     This  variety  is  de- 
^r     10  )      scribed  under  No.  10. 

''  j  PIQUE  POULLE  Norn.     This  variety  is  also 

*      described  under  No.  10. 

One  of  these  two  varieties  was  joined  with  the  bundle  of  Collioure 
vines,  (No.  10,)  but  I  find  I  have  not  noted  which  of  the  two. 


The  following  25  varieties  (from  14  to  38,  inclusive)  are  from  the 
vineyards  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Montpelier,  in  the  department 
of  Herault,  formerly  Languedoc. 

Cavoleau  does  not  notice  the  varieties  of  vines  cultivated  in  this 
department,  which  is  not  celebrated  for  the  qualities  of  its  wine 
in  general,  although  it  produces  the  famous  Muscat  wines  of 
Frontignan  and  Lunel.  Of  45,000,000  gallons  of  wine  annually 
produced  in  the  deparment  of  Herault,  28,100,000  are  converted 
into  brandy  or  spirits  of  wine. 

No,  14.  AYADE — white — yields  well,  and  is  good  both 
for  eating  and  for  wine. 

—  15.  MOURASTELL — black.      A    very  good  grape, 

came  originally  from  Perpignan.     See  No.  4. 

—  16.   AYADE   NOIR — black.      Produces   plentifully, 

and  is  good  for  making  brandy. 

—  17.  CALIGNAN — black.     This  is  the  best  variety 

for  making  brandy  ;  it  yields  well. 

—  18    RAMONEN — black.     Yields  largely,  and  is  also 

suitable  for  distillation. 

—  19.  TERRET — black.   Yields  well,  and  is  also  suit- 

able for  brandy. 

—  20.  FONTAINBLEAU.  An  excellent  eating  grape,  and 

ripens  very  early. 

—  21.  ESPAR — white.  This  variety  is  good  for  bran- 

dy,.but  does  not  yield  much. 

—  22.  CHASSELAS — white.     This  is  an  eating  grape. 

but  also  yields  a  good  white  wine. 


VINES  OF  HERAULT.  139 

No.  23.  UONE — white.    Makes  a  good  white  wine — 
ripens  early. 

—  24.  MUSCAT — black.     Yields  well,  and  is  good  for 

brandy. 

—  25.  MADELEINE — white.    Ripens  very  early,  but  is 

not  good,  either  for  wine  or  brandy. 

—  26.  CORINTH — black.     Is  excellent  both  for  wine 

and  brandy,  and  yields  well. 

—  27.  TERRET  BOURRET.     Yields  very  well,  and  is 

excellent  for  distillation. 

—  28.  ASPIRANT  VERDAL.      Produces  largely,  and 

yields  a  fine  wine. 

—  29.  OLIVETTE.     A  very  large  white  grape,  good 

both  for  wine  and  brandy.     It  is  also  put  into 
brandy  to  give  it  a  flavour — it  yields  well. 

—  30.  CLAIRETTE  DE  LIMOUSIN.      Produces  abund- 

antly,  and  yields   a   peculiar  and    excellent 
white  wine. 

—  31.  MERVEILLE — black.     Yields  well,  and  is  good 

for  brandy. 

—  32.  ASPIRANT — black.     Yields  largely — is  excel- 

lent for  eating,  and  makes  good  wine,  but  is 
worth  nothing  for  brandy. 

—  33.  ESPAR  NOIR — black.    Yields  well,  and  is  good 

for  making  brandy. 

—  34.  PIQUE  POULLE  GRIS — grey.     Is  good  for  wine 

and  brandy. 

—  36.  MUSCAT — white.     Is  good  for  eating,  for  wine, 

and  for  brandy. 

—  36.  BOIS-DUR — black.     Yields  well,  is  good  for 

brandy. 

—  37.  CINQUE  SAUT.     Yields  well — produces  excel- 

lent wine,  and  is  also  good  for  eating,  and  for 
brandy. 

—  38.  ARAMON — black.      Yields  well,  is  good  for 

brandy,  but  not  for  wine. 

The  following  6  varieties  are  from  Roquevaire,  the  district  in  which 
most  of  the  raisins  and  other  dried  fruits  of  Provence  are  pre- 
pared.— Roquevaire  is  about  12  or  14'  miles  east  from  Marseilles. 
Cavoleau  does  not  notice  the  qualities  of  the  vines  of  this  de- 
partment. 


140  APPENDIX. 

No.  39.  PANSE  or  PASSE — white.  This  is  the  grape 
with  which  the  best  raisins  of  Provence  are 
made.  The  bunches  are  large,  the  skin  of  the 
berry  is  tender.  M.  Negrel  Ferand*  says, 
that  "  this  is  a  very  strong  and  vigorous  vine, 
which  requires  a  rich  soil  to  give  it  all  the  de- 
velopement  of  which  it  is  capable.  Placed  in 
these  circumstances,  it  produces  abundance  of 
grapes  of  an  extraordinary  largeness,  which 
are  excellent  both  for  eating  and  to  preserve 
for  the  winter.  It  vegetates  very  early,  re- 
quires to  be  pruned  rather  long,  and  succeeds 
perfectly  in  the  trellis." 

—  40.    ARIGNAN — white.     This  grape  is   also  dried 

for  raisins,  but  being  much  smaller  than  the 
Pause,  the  raisins  bring  a  third  less  in  the 
markjet.  According  to  Negrel  Ferand^t  is  an 
ancient  vine,  and  yields  a  very  sugary  grape 
when  cultivated  on  light  dry  soils.  It  is 
mixed  in  the  proportion  of  a  tenth  with  the 
Muscat  grape  to  make  the  Muscat  wine,  and 
when  employed  alone,  it  yields  a  wine  which, 
if  properly  treated,  froths  very  well. 

—  41.  PASCAL — white:     This  grape  is  used  in  making 

white  wine.     According  to  Negrel  Ferand,  it 
is  cultivated  to  a  great  extent  in  consequence 
of  its  abundant  produce,  and  is  good  both  for 
•  eating,  and  for  white  wine. 

—  42.  PANSE  MUSQUEE.     This  variety  is  said  to  be 

the  same  as  the  Muscat  of  Alexandria.  It  is 
seldom  preserved  for  raisins  in  Provence,  as 
they  find  it  difficult  to  dry  owing  to  the  thick- 
ness of  its  skin.  Negrel  Ferand  says,  that 
though  less  cultivated  than  the  common  Panse, 
it  is  more  worthy  of  attention,  only  that  it  fre- 
quently blights  in  flowering.  The  remedy 
which  he  suggests  for  this  is  to  prune  it  long. 
He  adds,  that  if  cultivated  with  care,  its  rai- 

*  STATISTIQUE  DF.S  BOUCHES  uu  RHONE.    Marseilles,  1831-2. 


VINES  Of  HERMITAGE. 

sins  would  rival  the  best  raisins  of  Malaga  : 
but  it  is  questionable,  whether  the  degree  of 
heat  at  Roquevaire  is  sufficient  to  dry  it  per- 
fectly. 

No.  43.  BOUTEILLANT — black.  This  variety  yields 
very  largely,  and  is  considered  the  most  ad- 
vantageous for  making  wine  in  the  district,  as  far 
as  quantity  is  considered.  According  to  Negrel 
Ferand,  it  is  a  strong  and  vigorous  vine,  which 
yields  abundance  of  large  bunches  of  large 
grapes,  but  the  wine,  though  abundant,  is  weakr 
and  has  little  colour. 

— .  44.  BRUNFOURCAT.  This  grape  yields  the  best 
wine  of  the  district,  but  in  less  quantity  than 
the  above.  According  to  Negrel  Ferand,  it 
came  originally  from  Bourdeaux,  and  yields  an 
excellent  wine  when  cultivated  in  a  light  soil, 
on  the  slope  of  a  hill. 


The  following  three  varieties  are  from  the  Hill  of  Hermitage,  and 
are  the  varieties  exclusively  cultivated  in  the  best  vineyards. 

No.  45.  CIRAS — Cavoleau,  SCYRAS.  This  variety  is 
alone  used  in  making  the  best  red  wines  of 
Hermitage.  Cavoleau  mentions  a  tradition 
which  exists  in  the  neighbourhood,  that  this 
variety  was  originally  brought  from  Shiraz,  in 
Persia,  by  one  of  the  Hermits,  who  resided  in 
the  Hermitage,  of  which  the  ruins  still  exist 
on  the  Hill  where  the  celebrated  wine  of  that 
name  is  produced. 

—  46.  ROUSSETTE — Cavoleau,  ROUSSANNE.  This  va- 
riety yields  by  itself  a  dry  spirituous  wine,  and 
is  not  very  productive. 

47.  MARSAN — white.  This  variety  by  itself  yields 
a  sweet  wine ;  mixed  with  the  Roussette,  it 
produces  the  best  white  wines  of  Hermitage.. 


142  APPENDIX. 

The  two  following  varieties  are  vines  of  Burgundy,  from  the  Cloi 
Vougeot. 

No.  48.  PINEAU  BLANC,  or  CHAUDENY — white.  Produ- 
ces indifferently  ;  is  the  only  variety  of  white 
grape  cultivated  in  the  best  vineyards. 

—  49.  PINEAU  NOIR — black.  Produces  rather  more 
plentifully  than  the  preceding,  but  still  indiffer- 
ently. This  and  the  above  are  the  only  varie- 
ties cultivated  in  the  Clos  Vougeot,  and  other 
vineyards  of  celebrity,  and  this  is  alone  used 
in  making  the  best  red  wine  of  Burgundy. 


The  tliree  following  are  vines  «f  Champagne  from  the  Hill  of  Ay. 

No.  50.  PINEAU  DORE — black.  This  variety  was  intro- 
duced into  his  vineyards  at  Ay,  by  M.  Ruinart, 
of  Rheims,  some  years  ago,  and  is  still  confined 
to  some  of  the  best  vineyards.  It  is  much 
more  productive  than  the  other  varieties  of 
the  Pineau. 

—  51.  PINEAU  VERT — black.    The  variety  most  com- 

monly cultivated  in  Champagne. 

—  52.  PLANT  BLANC, or  WHITE  PINEAU.  This  variety 

and  the  two  preceding  are  exclusively  culti- 
vated in  the  vineyards  which  produce  the 
wines  of  Champagne  of  the  first  quality. 

The  above  complete  the  collection  made  in  the  districts  I  myself 
visited.  The  following  14  varieties  (from  53  to  66  inclusive) 
were  procured  (six  of  each)  from  the  Nursery  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg at  Paris.  They  are  particularized  by  Cavoleau,  as  the 
most  valuable  in  their  respective  districts,  and  the  following  ac- 
count of  them  is  taken  entirely  from  his  work. 


No.  53.  COULANGES  DE  L'YoNNE — black.  This  is  a 
variety  of  the  Pineau,  of  which  Bosc  has 
enumerated  22  varieties.  The  two  varieties 
which  people  the  best  vineyards  of  Burgundy 


VINES  OF  FUAXCE. 


143 


and  Champagne,  are  well  known.      I  his  va- 
riety and  the  following,  which  is  also  a  Pi- 
neau,   are  pointed  out  by   Cavoleau  as  par- 
ticularly worthy  of  notice  from  being   very 
productive.      The  Coulanges    yields    a  very 
good  wine  in  the    department   of  L'Yonne, 
and  produces  double  the  quantity  of  the  Pi- 
neau  of  Burgundy  and  Champagne. 
No.  54.  LIVERDUN — DE  LA  MEURTHE — black.     This 
variety  has  been  lately  propagated  to  a  great 
extent  in  the  department  of  La  Meurthe.     It 
yields  a  wine  which  will   keep    10  years  in 
the  cask,  and   is  so  prodigiously   fertile  that 
in  the  worst  years  it  yields  more  than  double 
the  average  produce  of  other   vines,  and  in 
abundant    seasons    the    produce     sometimes 
amounts    to    200    hectolitres     per    hectare  ; 
about  2,500  gallons  an  acre. 

—  55.  CARBENET,  or  CARMENET   A    PETITS  GRAINS 

— DE  LA  GIRONDE — black.  This  variety,  and 
the  three  following,  are  almost  exclusively 
cultivated  in  the  vineyards  of  Medoc,  and 
the  Carbenet  a  petit  grains,  and  Carbenet  Sau- 
vignen,  are  alone  to  be  found  in  those  of 
highest  reputation. 

—  56.  CARBENET  SAUVIGNEN — black.     See  55. 

—  57.  MALBEK — black.     See  55. 

—  58.  VERDOT — black.     See  55. 

—  59.  SAUVIGNEN — white.      De   la   Gironde.     This 

and  the  six  following  varieties  are  cultivated 
/       in  the  vineyards,  which  yield  the  best  white 
wines  of  this  department,  including    Vin  de 
Grave,  Barsac,  and  Sauterne. 

—  60.  SEMIHON — white       It  is  recommended    that 

this  variety  should  occupy  a  proportion  of 
two  thirds  of  the  vineyards  in  which  the 
other  five  varieties  are  cultivated. 

—  61.  ROCHALIN — white.     See  59. 

—  62.  BLANC-DOUX — white.     See  59. 

—  63.  PRUNERAS — white.     See  59. 


144  APPENDIX. 

No.  64.  MUSCADE — black.     See  59. 

—  65.  VERDET — white.     See  59.     This  variety  was 

also  called  Grose  Guillaume,  by  the  gardeners 
at  the  Luxembourg. 

—  66.  FOLLE  BLANCHE — DE  LA  CHARENTE.     This  is 

the  variety  of  vine  which  yields  the  brandies 
of  Cognac.  There  are  three  varieties  called 
Folk,  the  white,  the  yellow  and  the  green  ; 
the  two  former  are  superior  to  the  third. 


The  following  were  rooted  plants  from  the  nursery  of  Messrs.  Au- 
dibert  Freres,  of  Tonelle,  near  Tarascon,  in  the  department  of 
Bouches  du  Rhone. 

No.  67.  RAISIN  MONSTREUX,  of  Decandolle.     Quali- 
ties not  known. 

—  68.  MOUNESTIN — round,    black.       Fine  bunches, 

yields  well,  is  good  both  for  eating  and  for 
wine. 

• —  69.  MUSCAT  VIOLET.     A  good  eating  grape,  and 
also  for  Muscat  wine. 

—  70.  RAISIN  DE  DAMES — white.     A  most  delicious 

eating  grape,  and  keeps  well  for  winter  pro- 
vision. 

—  71.  ISABELLE,  an  American  grape,  black,  with  the 

flavour  of  the  raspberry. 

—  72.  MUSCAT  NOIR — black.     Good   for  eating,  and 

for  wine. 

—  73    VINE  OF  UPPER  EGYPT.     A  very  deep  colour- 

ed grape,  yielding  a  very  dark  purple  juice. 

—  74.  CORNICHON.     This  variety  was  one  of  four, 

procured  in  the  garden  of  Montpelier,  but  not 
belonging  to  the  Luxembourg  collection,  the 
other  three  are  dead.  This,  I  think,  is  a  very 
curious  and  beautifully  variegated  grape. 


VINES  OF  SPAIN.  145 


CATALOGUE    SECOND. 


SPANISH  VARIETIES. — The  first  seven  numbers  are 
those  cultivated  in  the  vineyards  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  producing  sherry 
wines.  Although  the  bundles  of  each  variety  were 
tied  up  separately,  unfortunately  no  tickets  were  at- 
tached to  identify  them.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that 
the  following  very  full  descriptions,  which  are  taken 
for  that  purpose  from  the  work  of  Simon  Roxas  Cle- 
mente,  will  make  this  no  difficult  task,  after  they  have 
borne  fruit;  and  they  will  serve,  at  the  same  time,  as 
specimens  of  a  mode  of  description  which  may  perhaps 
be  turned  to  future  advantage.* 

No.  1.  PEDRO  XIMENES. 

DESCRIPTION. 

STOCK,  large ;  bark,  adhering  loosely. 

BRANCHES,  rather  numerous,  of  middling  length,  or 
rather  short ;  thickness,  middling. 

Colour  reddish  gray,  soft,  the  distance  between  the 
knots,  middling. 

SECONDARY  BRANCHES,  abundant,  with  enough  of 
dwarf  bunches,  (Grapillons.) 

BUDS,  large,  very  pointed. 

LEAVES,  of  middling  size,  sometimes  rather  small, 
rather  irregular,  slightly  lobed,  downy  on  the  un- 
der side,  smooth  above,  slightly  attached,  edges 
indented,  with  rather  short  indentations,  the  foot 
stalk  is  almost  perpendicular  to  the  leaf,  and  the 
bases  of  the  nerves  are  red. 


*  In  the  work  of  Simon  Roxas  Clemente,  upon  the  varieties  of 
vines  culivated  in  Andalusia,  there  are  similar  descriptions  of  12fct 
varieties. 

13 


140  APPENDIX. 

BUNCHES,  pretty  num;;r<>;is,  of  middling  size,  of  a  cy- 
lindric  and  conic  shape,  with  some  small  grapes, 
which,  however,  all  ripen  ;  stalks  tender. 

BERRIES,  5|  lines  (twelfth  part  of  an  inch)  in  length, 
5  in  thickness,  very  obtuse,  the  colour  white,  ra- 
ther gilded,  (dor£,)  rather  transparent,  easily  se- 
parate from  the  stalk,  soft,  not  Heshy,  extremely 
sweet,  skin  very  fine,  ripen  very  early,  the  ring 
round  the  insertion  of  the  stalk  simple,  with  5, 
and  rarely  4  angles,  bright  gray. 


OBSERVATIONS. 


The  specific  gravity  of  the  must  of  this  grape  was, 
on  the  15th  September,  at  San  Lucar,  after  two  days 
exposure  to  the  sun  before  pressing,  12^  degrees  of 
the  hydrometic  of  Baume,  which  is  equal  1.092;  and 
at  Paxarete,  on  the  2d  of  October,  its  must,  after  four 
days  exposure,  weighed  16  degrees,  or  1.121. 

This  grape  rots  more  readily  than  any  other  va- 
i  oiy,  as  it  is  much  attacked  by  bees  and  wasps,  in 
consequence  of  its  extreme  sweetness,  and  the  fine- 
ness of  its  skin.  Its  must  is  considered  the  most  pre- 
cious either  for  sweet  or  dry  wines,  and  it  enters 
largely  into  the  composition  of  all  the  most  valuable 
wines  of  the  south  of  Spain.  It  is  not  esteemed  for 
brandy. 

This  variety  is  said  to  have  been  originally  trans- 
planted from  Madeira  and  the  Canaries  to  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine  and  the  Moselle,  and  thence  by  Pedro 
Ximenes  to  Malaga,  about  two  centuries  ago.  At 
Malaga  and  Grenada  one  half  'of  the  plants  in  the 
vineyards  consist  of  this  variety ;  at  Xeres,  one 
eighth  ;  at  Motril,  four  fifths ;  at  Paxarete,  one  fourth. 

No.  2.  MUSCATEL  MENUDO  BLANCO.  (Small  white.) 

DESCRIPTION. 

STOCK,  small,  buds  very  early. 

B  RANCHES,  rather  numerous,  prostrate,  very  unequal 
in  length,  weak,  round,  entirely  naked,   bright 


VINES  OF  SPAIN.  147 

reddish  gray,  very  soft,  distance  between  the 
knots  rather  long,  very  few  small  bunches,  (Gra- 
pillons,)  tendrils  opposite  to  the  leaves,  and 
branchy. 

LEAVES,  rather  small,  rather  irregular,  entire,  or 
nearly  so,  shining,  green,  inclining  to  yellow, 
but  rather  deep  in  the  upper  side,  somewhat 
downy,  indentations  rather  short,  stalk  smooth, 
and  of  a  bright  red,  generally  forming  an  acute 
angle  with  the  leaf. 

BUNCHES,  few,  small,  oval  and  cylindric,  very  com- 
pact, ripens  throughout,  stalk  rather  woody. 

BERRIES,  small,  almost  equal,  very  obtuse,  rather 
hard,  rather  fleshy,  of  an  insipid  sweet  taste, 
ripen  very  early,  easily  rot,  skin  rather  thick, 
without  any  ring  where  the  stalk  is  inserted. 

No.  3.  MANTUO  CASTILLAN. 

DESCRIPTION. 

STOCK,  trunk  large,  head  large,  bark  rather  thin. 

BRANCHES,  not  so  numerous  as  those  of  the  prece- 
ding, partly  prostrate,  and  partly  straight,  long, 
rather  small,  round,  of  a  clear  reddish  gray  co- 
lour in  the  upper  part,  and  the  under  part  white, 
spotted  with  red,  distance  between  the  knots, 
long,  very  few  dwarf  bunches,  buds  rather 
pointed. 

LEAVES,  middling  size,  the  lower  ones  large,  rather 
irregular,  almost  entire,  shrivelled,  very  cottony 
on  the  under  side,  the  cotton  white,  and  adhering 
strongly.  Before  the  maturity  of  the  fruit  the 
larger  leaves  take  a  yellow  colour,  the  stalk  a 
clear  red,  and  almost  at  right  angles  to  the  leaf. 

BUNCHES,  rather  large,  stalk  flexible. 

BERRIES,  9  lines  long,  and  8^  thick,  fleshy,  very  sa- 
voury, the  veins  apparent,  the  skin  fine,  the  ring 
circular,  and  decidedly  marked  of  a  clear  gray, 
and  sometimes  with  5  angles,  and  of  a  deep  red- 


148  APPENDIX. 

dish  gray,  commonly  rather  slender  towards  the 

point. 

The  must  of  this  grape  marked  at  San  Lucar  on 
the  15th  of  Sept.  9  degrees,  and  on  the  19th  of  the 
same  month,  9|  degrees  of  Baume's  hydrometer,  or 
1.064  and  1.069.  This  grape  bursts  and  rots,  if  ex- 
posed to  rain  after  it  i&  ripe.  At  Xeres  it  is  chiefly 
cultivated  in  the  sand  soils,  and  is  more  valued  as 
an  eating  grape  than  for  wine.  It  is  also  hung  up  to 
keep  for  winter  provision. 

No.  4.  UVA  DE  KEY.  (White.) 

DESCRIPTION. 

STOCK,  large. 

BRANCHES,  few,  horizontal,  middling,  or  rather  small, 
round,  reddish  gray,  rather  bright,  very  few: 
dwarf  branches,  few  secondary  branches. 

LEAVES,-  rather  small,  rather  irregular,  generally  en- 
tire, sometimes  very  slightly  lobed,  rather  bright 
on  the  upper  side ;  the  other  side  entirely  naked, 
indentations  rather  short,  stalk  naked,  rather  a 
bright  red,  almost  at  right  angles  with  the  leaf. 

BUNCHES,  large,  irregular,  composed  of  small  com- 
pound bunches,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  bunch, 
and  simple  bunches  towards  the  end,  very  few 
small  berries,  which  all  ripen,  stalk  long,  mid- 
dling thickness,  tender,  greenish. 

BERRIES,  white,  rather  hard,  an  inch  long,  by  10  lines 
in  thickness,  very  unequal,  very  obtuse,  very 
transparent,  not  fleshy,  sweet,  but  rather  harsh 
or  rough,  skin  very  fine,  ring  strongly  marked. 

No.  5.  MOLLAR.     (Black.) 


DESCRIPTION. 


STOCK,  middling,  buds  in  the  ordinary  time. 
BRANCHES,  numerous,  prostrate,  long,  rather  slender, 
round,  of  a  deep  reddish  gray  colour,  distance- 


VINES  OF  SPAIN.  1  49 

between  the  buds,    middling,  very  few  dw  arf 
bunches, 

LEAVES,  with  extremely  short  indentations,  rather 
shriveled,  reddish  at  their  first  developement,  and 
afterwards  of  a  very  yellowish  green,  and  rather 
shining ;  they  become  reddish  before  their  fall, 
the  under  surface  covered  with  a  very  adhesive 
white  cotton ;  the  stalk  either  naked  or  very 
slightly  downy,  of  a  reddish  colour,  and  at  rather 
an  acute  angle  with  the  leaf. 

BUNCHES,  rather  large,  a  little  irregular,  with  com- 
pound bunches  in  the  upper  part  of  the  bunch, 
and  simple  bunches  near  the  end  ;  very  few  small 
berries ;  generally  all  the  berries  ripen  equally, 
but  sometimes  a  part  remain  green,  the  stalk  long, 
slender  and  brittle. 

BERRIES,  eight  lines  in  length,  and  8^  in  thickness, 
rather  unequal,  very  obtuse,  not  fleshy,  the  skin 
fine,  the  ring  scarcely  observable,  colour  blackish 
gray,  ripen  early. 

Thetnust  of  this  grape  weighed  at  San  Lucar,  on 
the  15th  of  September,  9  degrees  of  Baume,  or  1.064 ; 
on  the  30th  of  the  same  month,  at  Paxarete,  12  de- 
grees, or  1.089. 

At  Xeres,  it  is  planted  in  the  proportion  of  one  third 
in  the  vineyard  s  of  the  arenas.  At  Arcos ,  Espera,  and 
Paxarete,  it  occupies  four  fifths  of  the  vineyards. 

No.  6.  MOSCATEL  GORDO  BLANCO.    (Large  White.) 

DESCRIPTION. 

This  variety  differs  from  the  small  Muscat,  by  the 
great  size  of  the  stock ;  by  its  branches,  which  are  also 
thicker,  and  of  a  yellow  reed-like  colour.  By  its  ber- 
ries, which  are  a  little  gilded,  and  of  1 1  lines  in  length, 
by  9£  in  thickness. 

The  must  of  this  grape  at  Chipiona,  weighed  on  the 
15th  September,  after  three  days  exposure  to  the  sun 
12  degrees,  or  1.089.  At  Palmosa,  on  the  26th  of  the 
same  month,  it  weighed  13  degrees,  or  1.096.  In  Oc- 
tober, 1808,  it  weighed  15  degrees,  or  1.114. 
13* 


150  APPENDIX. 

This  is  the  grape  from  which  are  made  the  best 
Malaga  raisins. 

No.  7.  MACHAR  NUDO. 

This  variety  was  furnished  to  my  friend  at  Xeres,  by 
Don  Pedro  Domecq,  of  Machar  Nudo,  as  the  most 
valuable  grape  which  enters  into  the  composition  of 
sherry  wine,  but  the  former  forgot  its  name.  I  have 
called  it  Machar  Nudo,  till  it  can  be  identified. 


VARIETIES  FROM  MALAGA. 

No.  8.  MUSCATEL. 
The  same  I  believe  as  No.  6. 

No.  9.  PEDRO  XIMENES, 
I  believe  the  same  as  No.  1. 

No.  10.  LARGA.     (White.) 

This  variety  is  also  employed  at  Malaga,  and  its  en- 
virons, in  making  raisins.  It  is  called  Larga  from  its 
long  shape,  the  berries  being  10  lines  in  length,  and  only 
6^  in  thickness.  Its  produce  are  called  sun  raisins. 
It  is  a  free  bearer,  and  is  said  to  make  a  good  mixture 
with  the  Pedro  Ximenes,  for  wine. 

No.  11.  JAEN.     (White.) 

This  variety  is  cultivated  in  almost  every  province 
in  Spain,  although  Roxas  Clemente  considers  it  doubt- 
ful whether  it  is,  in  every  place,  the  same  variety  which 
goes  by  that  name.  It  is  generally  esteemed  for  mak- 
ing wine,  and  yields  a  large  proportion  of  brandy.  It 
is  also  used  for  Lexia  raisins.  It  is  very  late  in  ripen- 
ing. 

No.  12.  MARBELLI.     (White.) 

This  is  chiefly  consumed  as  an  eating  grape.  This 
name  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  collection  of  Roxas 
Clemente. 


VINES  OF  MALAGA  151 

No.  13.  GABRIEL.     (Black.) 

This  is  also  an  eating  grape.  Roxas  Clemente  ob- 
serves, that  the  only  time  he  ever  found  the  full  number 
of  seeds  assigned  by  botanists  to  the  vine,  (viz.  five,) 
was  in  a  grape  of  this  variety. 

No.  14.  DORADILLO.     (White.) 

This  grape  is  used  for  wine  and  for  Lexia  raisins. 
Roxas  Clemente  observes,  that  it  bears  a  strong  affinity 
to  the  Jaen ;  like  it,  it  is  late  in  bearing :  it  is  mixed  with 
the  Pedro  Ximenes  at  Malaga,  in  making  a  particular 
kind  of  wine. 

No.  15.  DON  BUENO.     (White.) 
This  variety  is  used  only  in  making  wine. 
No.  16.  TEMPRANA.     (White.) 

Roxas  Clemente  identifies  this  variety  as  the  same 
with  the  common  Listan  and  the  white  Palomino  of 
Xeres. 

The  must  of  this  grape  weighed  at  San  Lucar,  on 
the  15th  September,  from  10  to  11  degrees,  or  1.070 
to  1.075  ;  but  the  must  of  grapes  of  the  same  variety 
which  had  been  three  days  exposed  to  the  sun,  weigh- 
ed 15  degrees,  or  1.114. 

The  same  author  says,  it  unites  every  desirable 
.quality  to  furnish  a  good  wine.  At  San  Luear,  it 
occupies  the  proportion  of  nineteen  twentieths  of  the 
vineyards;  it  is  also  very  extensively  cultivated  at 
Xeres  and  Port  St.  Mary's,  and  enters  largely  into 
the  composition  of  the  wines  called  Paxarete,  Xime- 
nes, Muscats,  and  Tintilla  ;  although  it  is  not  a  large 
grape  it  is  also  extensively  cultivated  for  eating. 

No.  17.  LAYREN.     (White.) 

This  is  cultivated  as  an  eating  grape  at  Malaga. 
If  is  classed  by  Roxas  Clemente  as  one  of  the  Mantuo 
tribe. 


152  AFPEXDIX. 

Besides  the  vines  described  in  the  foregoing  Cata- 
logues, and  those  which  are  enumerated  in  the  subse- 
quent one,  I  was  indebted  to  Mr.  Allan  Cunningham 
for  procuring  from  the  gardens  of  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
thumberland, at  Sion  House,  44  varieties  of  vines. 
But  unfortunately,  less  success  has  attended  this,  than 
any  of  the  other  importations.  The  only  varieties  of 
the  44  now  alive  being  Warner's,  Hambro',  White 
Muscadine,  Grecian  Brick-coloured,  Burgundy,  and 
the  Royal  Muscadine. 


CATALOGUE    THIRD. 


The  following  is  the  Catalogue  of  the  National  Col- 
lection of  Vines  in  the  Garden  of  the  Luxembourg  at 
Paris.  They  are  arranged  according  to  the  colour  of 
the  grape,  and  its  form.  Of  the  570  varieties  which 
it  comprises,  433  were  obtained  from  the  Botanic 
Garden  of  Montpelier,  and  110  from  the  Garden  of 
Luxembourg  at  Paris.  After  a  careful  examination,  it 
has  been  ascertained  that  at  this  date  (Jan.  22,  1833) 
362  varieties  are  alive,  and,  for  the  most  part,  healthy. 
The  rest  are  dead,  but,  as  before  stated,  it  is  hoped 
their  places  will  be  supplied  by  the  duplicates  now 
on  their  way  to  the  Colony.  Of  the  302  varieties, 
both  cuttings  of  157  are  alive,  and  only  one  cutting 
of  each  of  the  remaining  205. 

The  Professor  of  Botany  at  Montpelier  had  been 
able  to  identify,  or  class,  many  of  those  varieties  which 
are  unnamed  in  the  original  Catalogue,  and  many  of 
fts  voids  are  accordingly  filled  up  in  this.  The  varie- 
ties thus  ascertained  are  distinguished  by  being  insert- 
ed in  italics. 


CATALOGUE    OF    VINES. 


153 


VIGNES. 


FRUITS    NOIRS    OVALES. 

(Black  Oval-shaped  Grapes.) 


l.re*  Piate-Bande. 

1.  Maroquin,  de  l'H6rault 

2. 

3. 

4.  Carignan,  de  1'Herault 

5.  Merle  d'Espagne,  Landes 
6. 

7. 

8.  Pinneau    de   Coulanges, 

Yonne 

9.  Olivette  blanche,  de  I'Heraut 
10. 

11. 

12.  Pique  poulle  rouge,  de  VHe- 

rault 

13.  Boudales,  Hauls-Pyrenees 

14.  Merbregie,  Dordogne 

15.  Alicant,  de  1'Herault 
16. 

••  IT.^Bjistn  noir,  tres  gros,  muris- 

vjpit  tres  tard 
18. 

19.  Moutardier,  Vaucluse 

20.  Malaga,  Lot 
21. 

22. 
S23.  Bourdelas,  Jura 

24.  Uliade  rouge,  de  1'Herault 

25.  Cinq  taut,  de  I'H^ult 


7.  Clairette  rouge,  de  1'Herault 
28. 

29.  Plant  de  Pougealle  noir 
30. 

31.  Loge  Vienne 
32. 

33.  Grain    de  raisin    Maroquin 
noir 


34.  Servant  noir,  de  1'Herault 

35.  Plant  de  Malin,  Cote  d'Or 

36.  Morostelle 
37. 

38.  Grain  de  raisin  llanc.  Ovale, 
de  Divan. 


39. 

40. 
41. 

42. 
43. 
44. 
45. 
46. 
47. 
48. 
49. 
50. 
51. 
52. 
53. 
54. 
55. 

56. 
57. 
53. 
59. 
60. 
61. 
62. 
63. 
64. 
65. 

66. 


2.e  Plate-Bande. 


Muscat  d'Espagne  de  PHe- 

rault 

Barbera  noir,  P6 
Chaliane,  Dr6me 
Cargue-bas,  Lot-et-Garonne 

Eaisin  perle.  Jura 


Raisin  Cornichon,  Cazaliz 
Raisin  rouge,  Drome 


Perlosette,  Dr6me 
Rochelle    noir,    Seine-et- 

Marne 
Pineau  fleuri,  C6te  d'Or 


Meunier,  Environs  de  Paris 

Idem 

Meillet  blane,   Environs   de 

Paris 
Idem 


*  These  numbers  refer  to  their  arrangement  in  the  nursery  of  the  Luxj 
embourg 


APPENDIX. 


67.  Aspirant,  de  I'Heranlt 

90.  Navarre,  Landes 

t)8.  Bouteillant,  Bouches-du- 

91.  Olivan 

Rhone 

92.  Grenache 

69.  BruniJ,  Maine-et-Loire 

93.  Liverdun  bon  vin,  Vosges 

70.  Noirenu,  Environs  de  Paris 

94.  Bourguignon  noir,  Seine. 

71. 

et-Marne 

72. 

95.  Negron  de  Vaueluse 

73. 

96.  Muscat  noir,  dn  Jura 

74.  Pineau  noir,  Vienne 

97.    Terret  Muurreau  noir 

75.  Charge-mulet,  de  1'HeVauK 

98.  Muscat    rouge,    Blanc    pa- 

76. Colonban,  M.  Audibert 

nache 

99.  Maroquin 

3.e  Plate-Bande. 

100.  Pulsare,  Haute-Saone 

101.  Melarot 

77.  Aspiran  noir,  le  mai  Audi- 

102.  Pique  poulle  noir 

ben 

103.  Aliade 

78.  Ciotat  raisin 

104.  Terre  de  Barry  noir 

79.  Verjus  (douteux) 

105.  Berardi,  Vaueluse 

80.  Teinturier,  Vaueluse 

106.  Liverdun  bon  vin,  Vosges 

81.  Soule-bouvier,  de  I'Herault 

107.  Grenache 

82.  Aramon  noir 

108.  Gale  Blanc 

83.  Grognon  noir 

109.  Moulon 

84.  Passadoule  Bougie 

110.  Asctate-Saume,    Pyrcnees- 

85.  Plant  de  la  barre 

orientales 

86.  Rouge  Espagnol,  Landes 

111.  Espagner. 

87.  Ugne  blanche 

112.  Ncgre/te 

88.  Tokai  de  Hongrie 

113. 

89.  Celital  blanche 

114. 

FRUITS  NOIRS  RONDS. 

(Black,  round  Grapes.) 

127. 

4.e  Plate-Bande. 

128.  Sparse  grosse,  Vaucluso 

129.  menue,  idem 

115.  Croc,  Mayenne 

130.  Jacobin,  Vienne 

116.  Blanc-Madame,    Hautes- 

131.  Bourbon  Longue,  Vauclute 

Pyrenees 

132.  Quenoise 

117    Dolceto,  P6 

133.  Bordelais,  Mayenne 

118.  Balzamina,  P6 

134.  Camarau    rouge,     Hautes- 

119.  Augiber  blane 
120.  Negrun 

Pyrdndes 
135.  Pique.  poule    noire,  Landes 

121.  Trousseau.  Jura 

136. 

122.  Espagnins,    Bouches-du- 

137.  Aleatioo,  P6 

Rh6ne 

138.  Rive  d'Alte,  Lot 

123. 

139. 

124. 

140. 

125.  Terret  Vaueluse 

141. 

126.  Grtnache,  Vaucluie 

142.  Caular,  Vauclute 

CATALOGUE    OF    VIXES. 


155 


143.  Sanmoireau,     Seine-et- 

187. 

Marne 

144.  Mauzac  noir,  Lot 
145.  Picardin,  Vauctuse 

188. 
189. 

146.  Plant  drnit,  Vauduse 

190. 

147-  Nerre,  Haute-Marne 

148.  autre  variute",  idem 
149.  Melon,  Jura 

150.  Teinturier,  Vienne 
151.  Gre  llanc,  Vauduse 
152.  Clairette,  Vauduse 

191. 
192. 

193. 

5.e  Plate-Bande. 

194. 

153. 

195. 

154. 

196. 

155.  Terret,  Montpelier 
156. 

197. 
198. 

157.  Terret,  Herault 
158.  Tinto,  Ardeche 

199. 
200. 

159.  Torzia,  Vauduse 

201. 

160.  Grignoli,  Po 
161.  Sirodino,  idem 
162. 

202. 
203. 
204. 

163. 

205. 

164. 

165. 

206. 

166.  Rothe  Hintsche,  Bas-Rhin 

207. 

167.  Fran9ois  noir,  Aube 
168.  Pique-poule   Sorbier,  Dor- 
dogne 
169.  Pampigoet,  Bernardy 
170.  Spar,  Bernardy 
171.  .Brunfourca,    Bouches-du- 
Rh6ne 

208. 
209. 
210. 
211. 
212. 
213. 

172.  Gruselle,  Dr6me 

2J4. 

173.  Claverie  rouge,  Landes 
174. 

215. 

175.  Hauvage 
176.  Negret,  Haute-Garonne 
177.  L'Houmeau,  Charente 

216. 
217. 

218. 

178.  Almandis,  Gironde 

219. 

179.  Guila  noir,  Dordogne 
180.  Pique-poule,     Lot.et-Ga- 
ronne 

220. 
221. 

181  Pique-poule  noir,  Dordogne 
182.  Raisin  noir,  Dr6me 
183.  Baclan,  Jura 

222. 
223. 

184. 

224. 

185.  Vacarise,  Vauduse 
186.  Garnet  noir,  Haute-Saone 

225. 

187.  Epicier  grande  espece,  Vi- 

enne 

188.  Raisin  Suisse  de  1'Aube 

189.  Coda  di  volpe,  P6 

190.  Balavri,  idem 

6.e  Plate-Bande. 

Sparse  Sarastante,  Vau- 
duse 

Tokai,  Haute- Pyrenees 

Noirien,  Aube 

Folle  noire,  Charente-Infe"- 
rieure 


Ugni  noire,  Vaudute 


Cortese  nera,  P6 
Berardy,  Vauduse 
Verdan,  Vauduse 
Plant  droit,  Vauclme 
Meunier,  Bas-Rhin 
Clairette  rose,  Bouches-du- 
Rhone 

Raisin  panache,    Thonelle, 

Bouches-du-Rhone 
Lignage,  Maine-et-Loire 


Morillon  noir,  Bas-Rhin 
Gandie,  Dordogne 
Matinen,  Bouches-du-Rhone 

Crros  Raisin  noir  de  Pages, 
idem 

Pineau  noir  de  1'Yonne 

Mansein  noir,  Landes 

Biron,  Lot 

Amarot,  Landes 

Chasselas,      Bouches-du- 
Rhone 

Epicier,  petite  ecpece,  Vi- 
enne 

Madeleine  noire,  Seine 

Olivette  noir,  Bouches-du- 
Rhone 

Cornet,  Dr6me 


150 


APPENDIX. 


226.  Courbu,  Hautes-Pyrene'es 

227.  Corintht  tans  Pepin,  Bou. 

ches-du-Rhone 


228. 
229. 
230. 
231. 
232. 
233. 
234. 
235. 
236. 
237. 
238. 
239. 
240. 
241. 

242. 
243. 
244. 
245. 
246. 
247. 
248. 

249. 

250. 
251. 
252. 

253. 

254. 
255. 
256. 
257. 

258. 
259. 
260. 
261. 
262. 
263. 


7.e  Plate-Bande. 


Aspirant, Bouches-dii-Rhone 

Chailloche,  Charente 
Teinturier,  Vienne 
Madeleine  blanche 
Morillon  noir,  Jura 
Arrouya,   Hautes-Pyre'ne'es 
Picardan  gros,  Vaucluse 

Plant  sauvage,  Vaucluse 
De"goutant,  Charente 
Clairette  de  Die,  de   1'He". 
rault 


Pineau  noir,  C&te-d'Or 
Maclon,  Isere 


Sain-Jcan    rouge   de   1'IIu- 
rault 

Raisin   Turc,    Bouches-du- 
Rhone 
Canut  noir,  Lot 

Muscat  blanc,   Bouches-du- 

Rhone 
Pied    de    Perdrix    noir, 

Haute-Pyrdnces 
Navarro,  Dordogne 
Lardau,  Dr6me 

Berardi,  grande  espece,  Vau- 
cluse 

Espar,  HeVault 
Tripled,  Alpes-maritimes 

Tibaurin,Bouches-du.Rhdne 
Gros-noir,  Charente 
Morillon  noir,  Douba 


264.  Lambru8quat,Hautes-Pyr£- 

ndes 

265.  Grosse  Serine,  Isfcre 

266.  Touzan,  Lot-et-Garonne 

267.  Malvoisie  rouge,  P6 

8.e  Plate-Bande. 

Pique-poule  noir,  Vaucluse 
Pernan,  C&te-d'Or 
Rochelle    noire,     Seine-et- 
Marne 


268. 
269. 
270. 
271. 

272. 
273. 

274. 
275. 
276. 

277. 
278. 
279. 
280. 
281. 
282. 
283. 
284. 
285. 
286. 
•287. 

288. 
289. 

290. 
291. 
292. 
293. 

294. 
295. 
296. 
297. 
298. 
299. 
300. 
301. 
302. 
303. 
304. 


Chasselasnoir,  Doubs 
Marseillais,  Vaucluse 
Pineau  franc,  Haute-Saone 

Raisin  rouge,  Cantal 
Alicant,  Lot 

Estrang£,  Lot-et  Garonne 
Clairette  blanche 
Merveillat,  Vaucluse 
Olivette  Bouches-du-Rhone 

Ugne,  Vaucluse 
Parpeuri,  P6 

Muscat  Rouge,  Bouches-du- 
Rhone 

Cornichon,     Bouches-du- 

Rhonn 

Alexandrie  noir,  Doubs 
Muscat  noir,  P6 

Barbaroux,    Bouehes-du- 

Rhone 
Tres  dur Bouches-du- Rhont 

Pinnaut  Blanc 

Cornichon  Rougt 
Idem 


CATALOGUE  OP  VINES. 


157 


BLANCS,  GRAINS  OVALES. 

(White,  Oval-shapsd  Grapes.) 


9.e    Plate-Bande. 

04U.    JH 

341.  I 
342.  C 

305.  Boutinoux,  Dr6me 

343. 

306.  Clairette  blanche 

307.  Pinnaut  blanc 

308.  Vicane,      Charente-Infe'ri- 

eure 

344. 

309. 

345. 

310.  Picardin  de  I'He'rault 

346.  I 

311.  Olivette,Bouches-du-Rh6ne 

347. 

312  Chalosse,  Lot-et-Garonne 

348.  ] 

313.  Bouboulenque,  Vaucluse 

314.  Jacobin,  Vienne 

349.  ( 

315.  Gamau,  Dr&me 

350.  1 

316.  Muscatelle,  Lot 

317.  Grand    blanc,     Haute-Ga- 

351. 4 

ronne 

352. 

318.  Amadon,       Charente-Infe- 

353. 

rieure 

354.  " 

319.  Arbonne,  Aube 

355.  ] 

320.  Weiss  Klefelndu  Haut  Rhin 

321.  Clairette    de   Limoux,    de 

356.  ] 

1'Hc'rault 

322.  Aramond  blanc,  idem 

357. 

323. 

358. 

324.  Folie  blanche,     Charente- 

359. 

Inferieure 

360. 

325.  Sales  Blanc,  Bernardy 

361. 

326. 

362. 

327.  Panse  musque'e,    Bouches- 

du-Rh6ne 

363. 

328.  Servinien  de  1'Yonne 

364. 

329.  Ealliade  blanche,  Bernardy 

330.  Pied  said  de  la  Mayenne 

365. 

331.  Uliade  de  I'HSrault 

366. 

332.  Qualitor,  idem 

367. 

333.  Pinnaut  (ires  acide) 

368. 

334. 

369. 

335.  Grec  rouge,  Bernardy 

370. 

336.  Raisin  Perl6,  Jura 

371. 

337.  Sauvignon   blanc,  Hautes- 

372. 

Pyre'ne'es 

373. 

338. 

374. 

339.  Doneinelle,  Lot 

375. 

14 

340.  Rajoulen,  Lot 

341.  Bourret,  Dr6me 

342.  Claverie  male,  Landes 


10-e    Plate-Bande. 


Bourgelas,  Vosges 

Plant  Pascal,   Bouches-du- 

Rh6ne 

Clairette  de  Vaucluse 
Plant  de  Sales,  Bouches-du- 

Rh6ne 
Chenein,  Vienne 


Plant  vert  de  1'Yonne 
Pique-poule,         Lot-et-Ga- 

ronne 
Pans  commune,    Bouehes- 

du-Rh&ne 


Muscat     d'AIezandrie,    de 

1'Heiault 

Cecan,  de  Haute-Garonne 
Grosse  perle,  de  Seine-et- 

Marne 

Piquant-Paul,  Baases-Alpei 
Verdat,  Vaucluse 
Joannen,  idem 
Olivette,  idem 

Olivette  ronde,  Bernardy 
Caliter  blanc,  Bernardy 
Malvoisia,  P6 
Bon-blanc,  Doub» 

Assadoule 


158 


APPENDIX, 


376.  Malvasie,    Pyrenees-Orien-  |  378. 


377. 


tales 


BLANCS,  GRAINS  ROiNDS. 

(White,  round  Grapes.) 


381. 
382. 
383. 
384. 
385. 
386. 
387. 
388. 
389. 
390. 
391. 
392. 
393. 
394. 
395. 
396. 
397. 

398. 

399. 
400. 
401. 
402. 
403. 
404. 
405. 

406. 
407. 

408. 
409. 
410. 
411. 
412. 
413. 
414. 

415. 


11.      Plate-Bande. 

Joli  blanc,  Charente 
Raisin  de  crapaud,  Lot 
Nebiolo  commun,  P& 
Paugnette,  Bernardy 
Pique-poule,  Landes 
Rougeasse,  Lot 

Me"lier  blanc,  Jura 
Riscbling,  Bas-Rhin 
Doncinelle  Bernardy 
Manias  Bernardy 
Lourdaut,  Drdme 
Muscat  blanc,  Jura 


Picardan  blanc,  Bernardy 

Grosse  vari^te"  blanche,  Bas- 
Rhin 

Chasselas  doru,  Seine-et- 
Marne 

Chasselas,  Jura 

Ciotat,  Seine 


Saint-Rabior  blano,     Cha- 

rente 

Dammery  blanc,  Yonne 
Sauvignon  blanc,  Charente- 

Inferieure 
Grand  Benadu,   Bernardy 

Fie"  jaune,  Vienna 

Fi6  vert,  idem 

Maroc,  Bernardy 

Terret  Bourret,  Bernardy 

Unie     blanc,    Bouches-du- 

Rhone 
Gouais  petit,  Jura 


,  416. 

1417. 
[418. 

419. 


420. 
421. 

422. 

423. 
424. 
425. 
426. 
427. 
428. 
429. 

430. 
431. 
432. 
433. 

434. 
435. 
436. 
437 
438. 

439. 
4lil. 
441. 
442. 
443. 
444. 
445. 
446. 
447. 
448. 
449. 


Calce'dd,  Landes 

Blanc    Corinthe  de   grain,- 

Bernardy 
Arranjan  petit,  Landet 

12.e    Plate-Bande. 

Sauvignon,  Jura 

Printannier,  Hautes-Pyr^n- 
n6ea 

Chasselas  musque",  Seine- 
et-Marne 

Cascarolo  blanc,  Po 

Melon  blanc,  C6te-d'Or 

Forte-queue,  Deux-Sevres 

Doucet,  Lot-et-Garonne 

Mauzac  blanc,  Lot 

Herbasque.Alpes-Maritimes 

Hennant  blanc,  Seine-et- 
Marne 

Calitor  noir,  Bernardy 

Eragnon  noir,  idem 

Muscat  rouge,  idem 

Clairette  de  Lirnoux,  I'Hu- 
rault 

Gros-blanc,  Moselle 

Burger,  Bas-Rhin 

Maraquin,  Bernardy 

Vergus,  Bernardy 

Saint-Pierre  blanc,  Cha- 
rente 

Petit  Rilrier,  Bernardy 

Picardan,  Bernardy 

Marmot,  Marne 

Rivesalte,  Charente 

Claverie,  Hautes-Pyre'ne'es 

Arbois,  Maine-et-Loire 

Chopine,  Aisne 

Colombon,  Bernardy 
Gouais  jaune,  Vienne 
Auvernat,  Maine-et-Loire 


CATALOGUE  OF  VINES. 


159 


450.  Pique  poule,  Bernardy         |  483    Guillemot  blanc  de.  Landes 

451.  ?runy<5ral,  Lot.  484. 

452.  ServinierfcondredeVYonne    485  Bernardy 

453.  Pineau,blanc,C6te-dnOr        |4J6.  ^^  ^  ^^ 


13.e  Plate-Bande. 

458.  Rochelle  blanche,  Seine-et 

Marne 

459.  Saint-Jaume,  Landes 

460.  Blavette 

461.  Courtanet,  Lot-et-Garonne 

462. 
463. 
464. 


465. 

466. 

467. 

468. 

469. 

470. 

471. 

472. 

473. 

474. 

475. 

476. 

477. 

478. 

479. 

480. 

JL,    481 

482 


Latrut, 

Drouais,  Bernardy 
Raisin  grec,  Vaucluse 
Fourment6,  Aisne 
Merle"  blanc,  Landes 


Aligote',  C6te-d'Or 
Kniperl6,  Bas-Rhin 
Guilandoux,    Lot-et-Ga- 
ronne 

Sauvignon  du  Jura 
Mansein  blanc  des  Landes 
Semillon,  Lot-et-Garonne 


491.  Maroquin,  Bernardy 

492.  Plant  de   Demoiselle,  Bou- 

ches-du-Rh&ne 

493.  Martinen,  Bernardy 

{  494  Raisin  vert,  Bas-Rhin 

14.e  Plate-Bande. 
495.  Bourguignon  blanc,  Haute- 

•%  JT  . 


497. 


501. 
502. 

503. 
504. 
505. 
506. 
507. 
508. 
509. 
510. 
511. 

513. 


Clairette  menue  blancbe, 
de  Vaucluse 

Bonne  Vituepne,  Bernardy 
Tokai,  ou  Pinneaut  Gris 

Raisin  de  poche,  Bernardy 


Clairette,  Bernardy 


RAISINS  GRIS  OU  VIOLETS;  GRAINS  OVALES. 

(Grey  or  violet-coloured  Grapes ;  oval-shaped.) 

514.  Pique-poule   gris,    de   l'H6- 

rault 

515.  Feldlinger,  Bas-Rhin 

516.  Raisin  Turc,  Bernardy 
517. 

518.  Gentil  brun,  Bas-Rhm 


519.  Blanquette    violette, 

nees-Orientales 

520.  Mornin,  c'est  un  chasselat, 

Bernardy 
521. 
522. 


160 


APPENDIX. 


523.  Daraas  violet,  de  1'Herault 
524.  Aramon,  Bernardy 
525. 

528.  Chatus  Bernardy 
529.  Malvois,ie,  Bernards 
530. 

526. 
527.  Muscat  de  Rome,  Bernardy 

531.  Raisin  Cornichon.San  Pepin 
532. 

GRAINS  RONDS. 

(Round  Grapes.) 

549. 

15.e  Plate-Bande. 

550.  Tripion  Gros,  Raisin  rond 
551.  Malvoisie  violet 

533.  Miiller  reben,  Moselle 

552.  Caillaba  noir  Musqut 

534.  Musoat  rouge,  Loir-et-Cher 

553. 

535.  Marvoisin,  Loire 

554. 

536.  Feldlinger,  Bas-Rhin 

555.  Muscat  rose 

537.  Braquet   gris,    Alpes-Mari- 
timcs 

556. 
557.  Elizabeth 

538. 

558.  Papan,  ou  Cornichon  blanc 

539. 

559. 

540.  Gromier  violet,  Cantal 

560.  Maroc  noir 

541.  Muscat     rouge,     Seine-et- 

561. 

Marne 

5G2. 

542.  Chasselas  violet,  P6 

563. 

543. 

564. 

544 

565. 

545.  Grec  rouge,  Dr6me 

566. 

546.  Pineau  Gris,  C6te-d'0r 

567. 

54T,  Blangiiette  rose  (ovale) 

568. 

548.  Muscat  'noir 

569. 

570. 

INDEX. 


Albariza,  soil  which  produces  the  finest  Sherry  Wine  so 

called,  18. 

Analysis  of,  ibid. 

Agriculture,  barbarous  state  of,  in  Andalusia,  20. 
Agricultural  Establishment,  description  of  an  extensive 

near  Perpignan,  71. 

Aloe,  much  used  for  Fences  in  Andalusia,  20. 
Almond,    Jordan,    cultivated    in    a  limited   district  near 

Malaga,  54. 

value  of,  ibid. 


Antequera,  tract  of  country  from  Seville  to,  described,  45 
Algiers,  notice  of  the  French  Colony  there,  121. 
Arenas,  description  of  soil  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Xcres 
so  called,  21. 

-  produces  inferior  wine,  23. 

Brandy,  added  to  all  Sherries  except  some  of  the  finest,  15 

•  Wmes  of  Languedoc,  chiefly  converted  into,  87 
Garden  of  Montpelier,  description  of,  88  ;  Ecole 

ction  of  vines  there,  88  ;  urbanity  and  libe- 

rality  of  its  Director,  ibid. 
Burgundy  Wine,  how  made,  118;  quality  of,  depends  much 

upon  the  season,  ibid  ;  great  value  of,  119. 
Heze,  vineyard  of,  116. 

Champagne,  wine  of,  treatment  of.  in  bottles,  123, 

-  large  produce  per  acre,  124. 
Uimate  of  Malaga,  notice  of,  56. 
Cashmere  Goats  at  Perpignan,  86. 
Japers,  how  preserved,  99  ;  how  cultivated,  100. 

Or,  department  of,  extremely  fertile,  112  :  soil  of, 
ly  calcareous,  116  ;  very  thickly  peopled,  115 


162  INDEX. 

Clos  Vougeot,  description  of,  119. 

Collioure,  wine  of,  seldom  drank  in  a  pure  state,  79;. 

Chambertin,  vineyard  of,  115. 

Cosperon,  wine  of,  how  made,  80. 

Diet  of  Labourers  at  Xeres,  notice  of,  21,  27. 

• Malaga,  45. 

in  the  south-east  of  France,  77. 


Farm  Buildings  in  Andalusia,  wretched  state  of,  36  ;  a 
contrast  to  the  condition  of  wine  cellars,  and  buildings- 
in  the  vineyards,  ibid. 

Figs,  dried,  mode  of  preparing,  99  ;  extent  to  which  for- 
merly produced  in  Provence,  ibid. 

Fruit,  account  of,  exported  from  Malaga,  53. 

Fruits,  dried,  of  Provence,  97. 

Gypsum,  used  in  making  Sherry  Wine,  29. 

Hermitage,  wines  of,  greatest  part  of  the  first  growths  sent 
to  Bourdeaux  to  mix  with  Claret,  104 ;  how  made, 
ibid ;  probable  cause  of  their  superiority,  107. 

vineyards  of,  very  limited  in  extent,  lOti. 

Hierouomite  Monks,  a  convent  of,  extensive  farmers  near 

Seville,  38. 
Horned  Cattle  of  Andalusia,  20. 

Rousillon,  75. 

Horses,  Royal  dep6t  of,  at  Perpignan,  84. 

Insects,  destructive  to  the  stocks  of  vines  at  Xeres  if  ne- 
glected, 26. 
Irrigaticni  of  Gardens  near  Xeres,  23. 

Orange  Groves  at  Seville,  43. 


to  what  extent  carried  in  Rousillon,  So. 


Jose  Maria,  a  famous  brigand,  notice  of,  44. 
Languedoc,  wines  of,  chiefly  converted  into  Brandy,  87. 

Machar  Nudo,  description  of  a  vineyard  of  that  name  near 

Xeres,  24. 

Malaga,  exports  from,  53. 
wines  of,  chiefly  exported  to  America,  58. 


INDEX. 


163 


Malaga,  dry  wines  of,  very  inferior  to  Sherry,  58. 

sweet  wines,  Mountain,  ibid. 

Muscat,  ibid. 

Manure,  used  in  the  vineyards  of  Xeres,  19,  22. 
Manure  never  used  in  the  vineyards  of  Malaga,  48. 
not  used  in  the  best  vineyards  of  Rousillon,  82. 

used  in  large  quantities  in  Languedoc,  87 ;  also  at 

Hermitage,  109. 

use  of,  very  common  in  the  ordinary  vineyards  of 

Burgundy,  but  never  used  in  vineyards  of  reputation, 
114,  120. 

used  with  great  caution  in  Champagne,  126. 

Manzinilla,  a  wine  of  the  south  of  Spain,  so  called,   13  ; 

preferred  to  all  others  by  all  classes  where  it  is  grown, 
ibid. 
Montillado,  a  very  dry  species  of  Sherry,  15. 

Noria,  a  very  simple  engine  for  raising  water,  24 ;  descrip- 
tion of,  31. 
Nursery  at  Tarascon,very  extensive  and  well  conducted,  92. 

Oil,  Olive,  the  universal  substitute  for  butter  in  Spain,  and 
the  southern  parts  of  France,  76. 

more  congenial  to  health  in  hot  climates,  ibid. 

preferred  by  the  peasantry  of  Spain  when  rancid,  42. 

Olives,  mode  of  preserving,  94. 

Olive  Trees,  plantations  of,  near  Xeres,  17. 

remarkable  instance  of  the  facility  with  which 

they  take  root,  23. 

estimate  of  their  produce  at  Xeres,  23. 

Seville,  38. 

Alcala,  41. 

Perpignan,  70.  '-• 


order  of  bearing,  and  mode  of  pruning,  95. 

in  Provence  subject  to  great  injuries  from  the 

frost,  ibid. 

Orange  Groves,  near  Seville,  description  of,  43. 
regularly  irrigated,  ibid. 

Plants,  new  mode  of  packing,  93. 

Plough  of  Andalusia,  of  the  rudest  construction,  24. 

Prickly  Pear,  admirable  fences  formed  of,  in  Andalusia,  20. 


164  INDEX. 

Prickly  Pear,  recommended  to  the  attention  of  the  Settlers  of 

New  South  Wales,  20. 
Presses  for  extracting  oil  at  Seville,  38,  41. 
Props  for  supporting  vines  first  observed  at  Hermitage  in 

coming  from  the  South,  108. 
Provence,  wines  of,  not  so  well  known  as  they  deserve  to 

be,  101. 
Provignage,  described  as  practised  at  Hermitage,  108  ;  at 

Burgundy,  116  ;  at  Champagne,  126. 
Pruning  of  Vines  conducted  with  great  care  at  Xeres, 

25,  32. 

— — much  neglected  at  Malaga,  59. 

Pruning  of  Vines,  which  produce  the  Muscatel  raisins,  pe- 
culiar mode  of,  48  ;  how  conducted  in  Rousillon,  72  ; 

in  Provence,  100  ;  at  Hermitage,  109. 

Raisins,  Muscatel,  of  Malaga,  how  prepared,  49 ;  limited 
extent  of  land  producing,  47,  50 ;  quantity  produced 
per  acre,  and  value,  50. 

Sun,  or  Bloom,  51. 

Lexia,  51. 

of  Provence,  preparation  and  value  of,  97 ;  quan- 
tity produced,  98. 

Rheims,  chief  scat  of  the  trade  in  Champagne  wines,  121. 

Rivesaltes,  vineyards  of,  produce  the  first  sweet  wines  of 
France,  81  ;  wine  of,  how  made,  82. 

Roquevaire,  principal  seat  of  the  preparation  of  dried  fruits 
in  Provence,  96. 

Rousillon,  wine  of,  how  made,  74;  chiefly  exported  to 
Paris,  74. 

Sainfoin,  sown  in  Burgundy  as  a  preparation  of  the  soil  for 
,  vines,  113. 

Seville,  exports  from,  43. 

Sherry,  not  a  natural  wine,  15  ;  how  prepared  for  the 
market,  ibid  ;  how  it  is  made,  27  et  seq.  ;  often  made 
from  grapes  much  decayed,  30  ;  sometimes  turns  sour, 
35  ;  stock  of,  equal  to  many  years'  consumption,  ibid  ; 
general  observations  on,  63  et  seq. 

Sheep  of  Andalusia,  19. 

Rousillon,  76. 

— i the  Bergerie  Royale,  near  Perpignan,  85. 


INDEX.  165 


Scuddiness,  or  Motheriness,  in  Sherry  wines,  probable  cause 

SolerSc2a8sk6s4ii  which  Sherry  wines  are  ripened  so  called 
14  ;  are  said  to  contain  sometimes  wine  50  years 

Silk  Worms,  rearing  of,  very  profitable,  103. 

Soil,  general   remarks  relative  to  its   influence  upon  the 

quality  of  the  wine  produced  upon  it,  128. 
Sugar,  cultivated  at  Almunecar,  in  the  south  of  Spam,  5, 

Trenching  the  Soil,  customary  before  plant  ing  v  mes  in  the 
vineyards  of  Xeres,  27  ;  only  partial  at  Malaga,  47 
not  customary  in  Rousillon,  72  ;  very  deep  at  t 

TravSngT  danger  of,  through  the  south  of  Spain,  37. 

Vines,  number  of  varieties  cultivated  at  Xeres,  24. 

varieties  of,  which  yield  the  finest  Sherries,  scarce,  21 

number  of  varieties,  cultivated  at  Ma  aga,  58._ 

variety  of,  which  yields  the  finest  Malaga  raisin,  only 

grows  in  a  limited  district,  47. 

of  Rousillon,  notice  of,  71. 

National  Collection  of,  in  the  Botanic  Garden  of  Mont- 

Closeness  and  feebleness  of  those  of  Burgundy,  120. 

extreme  closeness  and  feebleness  of  those  of  Cham- 

VrneyST  of  Xeres,  descriptions  of,  17,  21,  24  32 ;  esti. 
mate  of  their  extent,  produce,  and  value,  ibid. 

Malaga,  description  of,  46  ;  value  of,  57. 

Rousillon,  description  of,  71  et  seq. ;  quantity 

and  value  of  their  produce,  73. 

—  Rivesaltes,  exceedingly  stony,  81. 

Collioure  and  Port  Vendre,  terraced,  78. 

Hermitage,  107. 

Burgundy,  115. 

Champagne,  124  ;  great  importance  of  a  south- 

1   C\  B? 


era  exposure,  125.  .  . 
Burgundy  and  Champagne,  much  injured  by  tn< 

winter  of  1829,  127  ;    striking  examples  of  the  eff< 

of  industry  and  skill,  127. 
celebrity,  limited  extent  of,  proverbial,  129  ;  t< 

what  attributable,  ibid. 


1G6  APPENDIX. 

Weevil,  scarcely  known  in  the  south  of  Spain,  39. 
Wines,  not  allowed  by  law  to  be  sold  for  consumption  in 

the  south  of  Spain  till  twelve  months  old,  35. 
dry,  of  reputation,  believed  to  be  always  produced 

in   calcareous  soils,  128  ;  striking  illustration  of  this 

at  Hermitage,  ibid. 
sweet,   qualities   of,   more   owing  to   the  kind    of 

grape,  and  the  mode  of  making,  than  to  the  soil,  129. 
boiled,  what  it  is,   15  ;    used  to  give  body   and 


colour  to  thin  and  light  coloured  wines  at  Xeres,  ibid  ; 
gives  the  brown  colour  to  Mountain  Malaga,  58. 

Wine  Cellars  of  Xeres,  very  extensive,  14. 

—  very  remarkable  subterranean,  at  Rheims. 

122. 

Wine  Presses,  Spanish,  of  very  rude  construction,  19  ;  de- 
scription of  a  very  complete  one  at  Tournon,  104. 

Wool,  curious  fact  relative  to  the  export  of,  from  Spain.  43. 

Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  one  of  the  richest  towns  of  Spain, 
14;  owes  its  wealth  to  the  excellence  of  the  wine 
grown  in  its  vicinity,  10. 

APPENDIX. 

Catalogue  First — Description  of  the  Vines  of  Rousillon  ; 
of  Rivesaltes ;  of  Herault,  formerly  Languedoc  ;  of 
Roquevaire  ;  of  Hermitage;  of  Burgundy;  of  Cham- 
pagne ;  Varieties  from  the  Nursery  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg; of  Tonrielle  ;  135 — 144. 

Catalogue  Second — Description  of  Spanish  Vines  ;  145 — 
152. 

Catalogue  Third — The  National  Collection  of  Vines  in  the 
Garden  of  the  Luxembourg  at  Paris,  152. 


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